Therapy? – Hard Cold Fire | soundsfromthedarkside

Therapy? is back after six long years with Cold Hard Fire, another collection of great songs that will hook you in. We checked it out for you.

Ireland’s Therapy? has been one of the main staples in my music collection since 1994’s Troublegum. Hearing Screamager for the first time on MTV (for the millennials amongst our readers: MTV used to play music videos all day instead of reality shows; it’s what the M stands for) kickstarted a long-term relationship between me and the band. Fast forward almost thirty years into the future and we find ourselves here, spinning Hard Cold Fire, the band’s sixteenth album. Is it good? Of course it is.

Clocking in at a mere thirty-one minutes, Hard Cold Fire sees Therapy? at its most focused, most condensed. The album counts ten songs that don’t waste any time in getting to the point. There is no excess fat and there is no material that shouldn’t have ended up on the album. Instead, Hard Cold Fire is a short, sharp burst of constant quality from start to end, filled with great hooks, punchy riffs and clever lyrics.

They Shoot the Terrible Master kicks the album off in up-tempo fashion, showcasing that Therapy? still haven’t forgotten how to write short, snappy but above all catchy songs. The same sense of urgency and immediacy that made albums like Troublegum or Nurse so riveting is still here after all these years. Over the course of just over half an hour, Hard Cold Fire is filled with punchy riffing, memorable hooks and the same headstrong songwriting and playing that has made the band so memorable over all these years. Special mention once again should go to perpetual birthday boy Neil Cooper’s almost counter-intuitive drumming that is so integral to Therapy?’s overall sound.

Therapy 2023

Of course, there’s more than enough to enjoy other than the drumming. As always, Michael McKeegan’s bass takes front and centre place alongside Andy Cairns’ infectious riffing and ditto vocal lines. As always, the lyrics are wonderfully cynical and dark here and there, found on songs like Joy or Ugly. It’s ink-black in places and dripping with satire, which is, of course, par for the course. Highlights on Hard Cold Fire are the aforementioned opening track, the sonically more upbeat Mongrel and the album’s first single, Poundland of Hope and Glory, where the band tackles the subject of misinformation and “false news.”

In short, Therapy? is back with another scorcher of an album. Ever since 2009’s Crooked Timber, the band has been on an absolute winning streak, delivering one great album after another. Hard Cold Fire is no exception to that rule, and although the most ardent fans will already own the album themselves, it has all the ingredients to draw in a new crowd as well. One for the lists at the end of the year.

Label: Marshall Records

Buy it here: https://biglink.to/HardColdFire_Pre-Order

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