Placebo, Never Let Me Go, ★★★★☆

Absence makes the heart grow louder, or so it seems on Never Let Me Go, Placebo’s first new album in almost a decade. Filled with foreboding about the future, damaged and twisted by everything from the divisions reaped by Brexit and Black Lives Matter to the apocalyptic doom of climate change, the pandemic and now the threat of nuclear war, the album urges us to choose apathy over acceptance.

“It’s all good / When I feel nothing,” snarls Brian Molko on opening track Forever Chemicals, his distinguishably brooding vocals mirroring the same urgent angst featured on some of Placebo’s biggest Nineties hits, from Nancy Boy to Every You, Every Me, that made them the anti-heroes of the Britpop era. 

The band haven’t been twiddling their thumbs since their last new release Loud Like Love in 2013, instead deep-diving into their older material with greatest hits compilations and tours. These tours saw Molko go back on his previous disdain for 1998’s smash-hit Pure Morning – for years the band refused to play it at gigs, calling the song “quite naïve” – and he opened multiple shows with it, to the delight of fans. The greatest hits tours took their toll, though, sparking a crisis of confidence that Placebo’s days of creative innovation were numbered: instead of making new music, would they be stuck regurgitating tracks from 30 years ago? The band took a much-needed break to recharge and regroup, finally starting to work on new material in 2017; then, Molko told NME that he had “thrown all the methods that I’ve used in the past out of the window” to create Never Let Me Go.

This record is undoubtedly their strongest offering since 2006’s Meds, strengthened by the inclusion of the sort of furious social commentary  that made them such heroes to countless kohl-eyeliner-wielding teenagers in the late 90s. Beautiful James, This Is What You Wanted and The Prodigal are highlights. However, there are blips too – such as Hugz, which seems oddly cheesy in comparison to the dark tones of the rest of the album. 

But the bleakness of climate change, held up as the album’s main focus both through its lyrics and artwork, which sees a plastic-covered beach and melting ice cap, is rescued from complete doom and gloom by the sheer fun of the music. With futuristic riffs and pounding drums, Placebo remain a glorious band to yell along to, even after all these years. Poppie Platt

Machine Gun Kelly, Mainstream Sellout, ★★☆☆☆

Over the past decade, American star Machine Gun Kelly (aka Colson Baker) has worn a variety of hats: as a rapper, an actor, and the subject of Eminem’s wrath. The feud was spurred by MGK’s creepy 2012 tweet about Eminem’s then 16-year-old daughter (“I have to say, she is hot as f***”). But this isn’t the only time that MGK (who is now engaged to fellow actor Megan Fox) has been called out for dubious comments about girls (he said he wanted to “snag” – slang for sleep with – then 17-year-old Kendall Jenner) as well as black women, yet the entertainment industry appears keen to gloss over such ugly details. 

Now 31-year-old MGK’s rebranding continues to increasingly lucrative effect: last month saw him star in Taurus, playing a self-destructive musician, and today he releases his sixth album Mainstream Sellout. It sticks with the pop-punk focus that MGK successfully presented on 2020’s Tickets To My Downfall, and reunites him with Blink-182 drummer and seasoned producer Travis Barker. 

Pop punk’s power stems from its combo of brash energy and bubblegum tunes, and Mainstream Sellout is slickly rendered, with a bunch of big-name guests spanning Brit rockers Bring Me The Horizon to hip hop stars Lil’ Wayne, Young Thug and Gunna. While its predecessor was heralded as a change of tack, however, this collection clings to formula. There are shopping mall-catchy melodies including Make Up Sex (featuring Blackbear) and Emo Girl (where MGK and Willow both serenade a stylised outsider); occasionally, it evokes a swearier version of the style that Avril Lavigne dealt a couple of decades ago (Lavigne will also guest on MGK’s upcoming tour). 

Despite the veneer of vulnerability in the album, with songs Born With Horns and Papercuts drawing from MGK’s personal experience of emotional struggles and addiction, while Sid & Nancy and Twin Flame reflect his high profile romance with fiancée Megan Fox, MGK’s intentions feel shallow. Mainstream Sellout portrays MGK as a victim of success; it gleams like a fancy ornament on an industry merry-go-round – then the music hits you, not with a roar, but a very loud meh. Arwa Haider