Therapy? - A Rough Guide

If you didn't go through your teenage years in the early-to-mid 1990s you probably don't know who Therapy? are, and that's a real shame. Let's just take a moment to reflect on how remiss you have been getting through life so far without them.

Here's a belt. Feel free to flagellate yourself thoroughly.

All done? Lovely. Now while you're mopping the blood off the walls, have a listen to the following tunes.

Therapy? started as a threepiece in Belfast at the sodden arse-end of the 1980s, fuelled by industrial punk nightmares and feverish European electronic sensibilities. Their first two mini-albums, 1991's "Babyteeth" and 1992's "Pleasure Death" are obviously influenced by the likes of Big Black and The Jesus Lizard - but they manage to be somehow denser and more claustrophobic, melodic punk whistled through a serial killer's broken front teeth. Andy Cairns' vocals are a death threat overheard on a busy street, while Michael McKeegan's pulsating bass underpins everything else like a twisted disco beat.

Therapy? - 'Innocent X' - 1991 - from "Babyteeth"

Their first full album followed soon after, and loosens up the metronome drum patterns ever so slightly, letting the songs breathe out in the open. Raw buzzsaw guitars and distant wailing vocals are still the formula, but the end result is ever so slightly more friendly. But the unhinged dementia is still waiting in the wings, a squealing mental breakdown all the more terrifying for being hidden in the open.

Therapy? - 'Teethgrinder' - 1992 - from "Nurse"

And then everything changed. A series of EPs and singles were followed in 1994 by "Troublegum", which might just be the greatest pop-punk record ever recorded. Packed to the gills with melody, soaring choruses and infectious riffs, all of the torment and nihilism here were embedded firmly in the lyrics rather than edging their way clear into torturous music. At its heart, it isn't any lighter an LP than Therapy?'s early work. It's just better at covering the scars with brightly coloured balloons and manic smiles. Modest chart success followed for the likes of 'Screamager', 'Nowhere' and 'Die Laughing', and some high profile festival slots and tours put the word around that the band were maybe going to make it bigger than one could have expected from an oddball industro-punk squall from Northern Ireland.

Therapy? - 'Screamager' - 1994 - from "Troublegum"

So they changed everything, pretty much. Why not? Stagnation is a killer. The very next year "Infernal Love" hit the shelves, and while many of their newly acquired fanbase were put off by a record that slotted in an uncomfortable art-rock wet dream for every summer-bright pop tune, it is a record that stands firmly as their second best work. With the benefit of hindsight from the salty shores of 2014, it's a classic. But back then, the fickle UK music press and even more fickle alternative rock fans met it with a lukewarm response at best. But it's the sound of a band maturing and undergoing massive nihilistic trauma at the same time, and who doesn't want that in their life?

Therapy? - 'A Moment Of Clarity' - 1995 - from "Infernal Love"

Changes followed, as they often do in the midst of turbulence. Founding drummer Fyfe Ewing departed the band, taking his staccato rhythms with him. As well as replacing him with Graham Hopkins, they also incorporated Martin McCarrick on cello and guitar. A fourpiece for the first time, this more traditional rock band lineup resulted in a more traditional punk rock sound. 1998's "Semi-Detached" was to lay down a blueprint for the many variations in their sound that have followed since, as a raw garage vibe was laid across most of the tracks. Less pop, more punk.

Therapy? - 'Church Of Noise' - 1998 - from "Semi-Detached"

This raw punk aesthetic was pumped up even further for 1999's "Suicide Pact - You First", which was a fuzzy battleground of growling cynicism sprinkled with the occasional melancholy escape hatch - such as the superb 'Six Mile Water', which is solid proof that they should write an alt. country record at some point. The LP also seemed to mark a turning point in Therapy?'s career, which shifted inexorably towards a lack of interest from the press and survival primarily through a ferociously loyal (though smaller) fanbase. That's the story for the UK, in any case. I suspect they still make new sales in Europe, where folk seem less concerned about what haircut a lead singer has.

Therapy? - 'Six Mile Water' - 1999 - from "Suicide Pact - You First"

2001 saw Therapy? record what I consider to be their only stinker of an album to date, the ironically titled "Shameless". All the deities created by mankind love you if you can hack it, but a couple of singles aside I find it thoroughly underwhelming. So moving swiftly on. 2003's "High Anxiety" was a return to form of sorts. Not a groundbreaking work by any means, but definitely carrying on the legacy established by "Semi-Detached" in its packaging of punk rock tempered by the band's ongoing talent for a soaring chorus hook. Neil Cooper also arrived on drums, and has marked his place in the band with a penchant for a rolling punk rock percussive assault that suits their later material well.

Therapy? - 'If It Kills Me' - 2003 - from "High Anxiety"

Martin McCarrick departed soon after, which is a shame for him since the last great Therapy? record to date, "Never Apologise Never Explain" followed in 2004 and came as quite a surprise to most of their fans. A scuzzy hyperactive bullet-train of rumbling intensity, it is packed end-to-end with the sound of a rock band creating the rockiest rock they can rock. ROCK.

Therapy? - 'Die Like A Motherfucker' - 2004 - from "Never Apologise Never Explain"

I've always got the sense that Therapy? are uncomfortable following up an album with one that carries the same sensibilities as the last. I don't have a problem with that whatsoever, but it does make it really difficult to predict what direction on their ever-flailing trajectory the next recording will take. "One Cure Fits All" hit in 2006, and was in a sense the final entry in the melody/fuzz fusion trilogy that began with "Semi-Detached" and "High Anxiety". Said trilogy got patchier as time went by, but it still had some quality tunes on it.

Therapy? - 'Dopamine, Serotonin, Adrenaline' - 2006 - from "One Cure Fits All"

"Crooked Timber" followed in 2009, and was a slightly directionless mess of rock tunes that tried to pitch in every adjective I have previously used to describe their music. As a mish-mash of everything with songwriting that is below par for veterans of this caliber, it's not a must-have despite a couple of cracking songs in the middle. Their most recent LP is 2012's "A Brief Crack Of Light", and it comes across like a version of "Crooked Timber" that had a hell of a lot more work put into it. Or maybe a lot less, resulting in greater immediacy. Either way, the tunes are more tunely and the punch is more punchtastic. And it also proved that despite having been going all these years, they can still put out a killer single in the form of 'Living In The Shadow Of The Terrible Thing'.

Therapy? - 'Living In The Shadow Of The Terrible Thing' - 2012 - from "A Brief Crack Of Light"

Listen To A Whole Load Of Therapy? On Spotify HERE.

Essential Records: Babyteeth, Troublegum, Infernal Love, Never Apologise Never Explain

ATCB's Top 100 Albums Of The Bastard's Decade: 40-31 

Presenting the seventh installment in this ongoing, self-obsessed series. A Spotify playlist featuring all available recommended tracks is being built daily alongside the list, and can be found by clicking here.

40. Cyclefly – ‘Crave’ (2002)

Cyclefly’s 1999 debut ‘Generation Sap’ was a glam-tinged alt. rock gem that went undiscovered by many, and this follow-up certainly went in a slightly more mainstream direction. It’s a weaker record but still packed with a blend of ideas and sounds that carries on sounding fresh nine years later. Declan O’Shea’s pinched vocals bring to mind the likes of Billy Corgan and Brian Molko, and while a musical comparison to Smashing Pumpkins and Placebo overall would not be entirely unbelievable Cyclefly carved out their own niche confidently. Indeed, it is interesting to note – spoiler alert - that neither of those bands released anything in this decade decent enough to make this list. I can also confidently spoil that this is the only album on this list to feature a guest performance from Linkin Park’s Chester Bennington. What a shocker.

Recommended Tracks: “Selophane Fixtures”, “Drive”, “Crowns”

39. Seabound – ‘Double-Crosser’ (2006)

Seabound specialise in bright, glittering electropop that can occasionally pump out fast-paced floorfillers but it mostly comfortable with more measured, sombre songs that manage to steer clear of the term ‘ballad’. ‘Double-Crosser’ fine-tuned their sound – and while their releases are always subtle displays of excellence rather than proud, forceful anthems, the tracks collected here brought Seabound to a potential push through to the higher echelon of electro acts. The vocals are warmer than most of their peers, and their synthlines wash beneath them like an underground silken sea. One of the most consistent albums on this list, this is end-to-end quality blissed electronica.

Recommended Tracks: “Doubleplusungood”, “Domination”, “Castaway”

38. Iron & Wine – ‘Our Endless Numbered Days’ (2004)

Iron & Wine is the country-folk musings of Samuel Beam, a man with prodigious talent and an even more prodigious beard. ‘Our Endless Numbered Days’ is a stripped-back release that is mostly acoustic guitar and his semi-whispered vocals, weaving simple images and experiences together into spellbinding songs that linger in your head long after they have any right to be there. Listening to this LP comes pretty close to glimpsing a gleam of sunshine through rustling summer leaves. It’s always gentle, but it is a gentleness that carries a power with it that can put other, more intense records to shame.

Recommended Tracks: “Naked As We Came”, “Love And Some Verses”, “Passing Afternoon”

37. Therapy? – ‘Never Apologise Never Explain’ (2004)

While Therapy?’s 21^st century output has been inconsistent to say the least, ‘Never Apologise Never Explain’ rose above this inconsistency to provide a solid dark punk rock record. The tempo is sped up from their previous couple of albums and the bleak n’ roll trio get settled into some good old-fashioned sonic abuse. It’s not exactly a harrowing piece of work, since audience-bating anthems like “Rock You Monkeys” sit alongside the more claustrophobic urgency of “Polar Bear” – but then most of their best work has been built on the teetering brink between blind grinning optimism and utter cataclysmic despair. That’s where Therapy? live and breathe, and it’s a damn fun place to visit.

Recommended Tracks: “Die Like A Motherfucker”, “Long Distance”, “This Ship Is Sinking”

36. Future Of The Left – ‘Travels With Myself And Another’ (2009)

The second mclusky sequel act on this list, and one a lot closer in sound to the Welsh bile-rockers. More driven and less angular than their 2007 debut ‘Curses’, this record is pretty close to the feeling you get when a complete stranger comes to within two inches of your face and does an uninterrupted ten-second scream at the top of their lungs. While touching you inappropriately. A mixture of punky body-popping spasms and oddball keyboard-accentuated tics, one cannot completely ignore an album that contains a song confronting the dilemma that Satanists face when trying to get decent babysitting for their nights of wild devil-worship. ‘Travels With Myself And Another’ leaves you giggling in a worryingly high pitch, banging your head violently and wrinkling your forehead in disgust at the same time. That’s a good night out by anyone’s standards.

Recommended Tracks: “Arming Eritrea”, “Throwing Bricks At Trains”, “You Need Satan More Than He Needs You”

35. Rammstein – ‘Mutter’ (2001)

‘Mutter’ saw Rammstein expand the operatic bombast of their definitive Neue Deutsche Härte to defy the usual boundaries of English-speaking metal/rivetheads worldwide and deliver a breakout release that capitalised on the increased success of previous album ‘Sehnsucht’ to plant them – sweating, dirty and immolated – front and centre on the world stage of heavy music. It’s a tribute to their ability to spot-weld punishing riffs, stomping drums and booming vocals together, and this is displayed in fine form on this LP. It picks up the raw phosphorescent energy of Rammstein on stage and flings it at the listener, pounding its fists firmly into its chest before barking a single Teutonic command at you for which there is no safeword. To this day, I cannot think of a single other rock/metal act singing in a non-English language who can fill a dancefloor or a stadium in the English-speaking world. In itself that is wretched, but it also shows just how damn good Rammstein are at what they do.

Recommended Tracks: “Mein Herz Brennt”, “Sonne”, “Ich Will”

34. System Of A Down – ‘Toxicity’ (2001)

I still can’t quite believe that music as interesting and vital as System Of A Down actually broke through to the alternative mainstream, but with ‘Toxicity’ they did just that – exposing millions to their epileptic Armenian metal grind. It builds on the Middle Eastern-flavoured political thrust of their debut while packing in as many hook-laden riffs and quirky vocal freakouts as possible. It’s also head and shoulders above everything the band have released since, with their second best from this decade being a collection of songs stripped out of the ‘Toxicity’ sessions. There are slight reference points throughout the LP to link into the sounds of other bands (the angularity of Fugazi, the precision of Helmet) but really System Of A Down stand on their own as a sub-genre of one. For a band as popular as they are, that is almost unheard of.

Recommended Tracks: “Prison Song”, “Needles”, “Jet Pilot”

33. Million Dead – ‘A Song To Ruin’ (2003)

Nowadays vocalist Frank Turner is much more well-known for his solo work, but in the early 2000s he fronted melodic garage punkers Million Dead – political commentary equally sang and screamed over the top of crackling riffs and a measured rhythm section. Far superior to the concluding release that followed in 2005, ‘A Song To Ruin’ is a raw and blistering mix of the abstract and physical. Squirming with youthful frustration and quashed rebellion, it’s surprising how listening to this in 2011 makes no difference to listening to it at the time of release. The vitriol and energy is still apt, still honest and still damaging. Good for Million Dead, bad for how little we have progressed.

Recommended Tracks: “Pornography For Cowards”, “Charlie & The Propaganda Myth Machine”, “A Song To Ruin”

32. Deftones – ‘Deftones’ (2003)

Deftones had long left behind their completely inaccurate labelling of ‘nu-metal’ by the time this record hit the shelves, but if anyone had any remote doubts left then a mix of crushingly heavy guitars and sublimely ethereal shoegazing was sure to do the trick. Chino Moreno’s vocals are far from the only appeal of Deftones, but they truly excel here. At times a ragged stream-of-consciousness croon, at others a gutwrenching scream of loving and sinful anguish. The guitars, bass and soundscapes all wash over the percussion and vocals like a multi-coloured glistening tide that leaves you gasping for air, stranded in some beautiful alien land. This eponymous release faced stiff competition from 2010’s return to form ‘Diamond Eyes’, but in the end this is the more solid and consistent release.

Recommended Tracks: “Minerva”, “Good Morning Beautiful”, “When Girls Telephone Boys”

31. VNV Nation – ‘Futureperfect’ (2002)

Kings of the futurepop genre, Anglo-Irish duo VNV Nation have spent most of the last ten years meandering through electroclash and EBM with only one foot placed in their glory days. That’s not to say they have dwindled in popularity or record sales – I am sure the opposite is true – but it feels like the last truly fresh and necessary release they made was ‘Futureperfect’. It carries the counter-Imperialistic mix of classical and electronic influences that catapulted them into such a striking but divisive position amongst electroheads worldwide. There are storming dancefloor monsters alongside softer, twinkling creatures of dust and starlight. What marks this album out beyond others of the genre is how well these styles are blended together into a coherent whole by the lyrical themes and performance of Ronan Harris.

Recommended Tracks: “Epicentre”, “Electronaut”, “Beloved”