By Laserangel

When the previous incarnation of the Fall imploded in on itself during their disastrous tour of America a couple of years ago, many people feared the worst. Mark E Smith was looking increasingly frail and When the previous incarnation of the Fall imploded in on itself during their disastrous tour of America a couple of years ago, many people feared the worst. Mark E Smith was looking increasingly frail and haggard, and it seemed that his drinking was getting out of hand. Live shows were beginning to resemble a kind of horrific pantomime where Mark would concentrate on harassing his band members more than the music. Long standing Fall stalwarts Stephen Hanley and Karl Burns had had enough - Mark was so "impossible to work with" that they jumped ship and formed their own band . This was it. After about 20 years and countless albums, Mark E Smith and the Fall had finally ground to a halt. There was no way he could recover from this. Or so people thought.

Well, you should never write off this man. He quickly assembled a brand new band made up of unknowns (although Julia Nagle is still in the band) and swiftly released the Marshall Suite. It was an excellent album, better than anyone could have expected, but it lacked a certain "something" that was required to make it a true Fall classic. But now they're back with yet another new album, the Unutterable, and this one is a real stunner.

Once again it contains a really varied range of musical styles, from Fall-patented "manc-abilly" to manic industrial dance to garage rock to even polite dinner-jazz! And it all fits together perfectly into a wonderfully cohesive whole.

You know this album is going to be special even after the first minute. 'Cyber Insekt', the opening track, is a classic Fall pop song (if the phrase "pop song" did not have connotations of cheesy crap). It has the most amazing driving percussion to be heard in a Fall song since 'I Am Damo Suzuki' from 1985, and a naggingly infectious but slightly out-of-tune guitar line, and some lovely synth backing. Mark sings some stuff about the Internet but as usual its hard to decipher exactly what he means. It really is a brilliant start to the album. The next song, however, is just as good. 'Two Librans' is just amazing, probably the best "rock song" the Fall have ever done. The guitar accompaniment during the first verse reminds me a bit of Joy Division. And the chorus is a classic. "Two Librans? reflect-ah!" growls Mark to a backing of super-heavy guitars. Both of the first two tracks would make bloody great singles, and in a just world they would go to number 1 and stay there for the rest of the year.

In fact, the first half of the album is flawless. 'Dr Buck's Letter' sounds like nothing they have ever done before. Its quite a simple track really, with the music almost solely made up of a bass-heavy electronic grinding sound which vaguely reminds me of the title track on Primal Scream's 'Exterminator'. On this track, Mark growls something about regretting losing his temper with a friend and then reading a magazine which puts him "in the realm, of the essence of Tong" (which is a superb line!). Another great track.

'Sons of Temperance' is cool, a more Fall-like garage rock track, which reminds me a bit of the Pixies in places. Mark employs a kind of ventricular growl on this track where he seems to be singing from the very back of his throat, which means that I can't make out most of the words! Hot Runes is a short but catchy-as-hell track which sounds like 'Guest Informant' from 1987's 'The Frenz Experiment'.

'Way Round' is another one of the album's highlights where Mark sings about his hatred of roundabouts with some nice eerie Dr Who-esque synths in the background.

The album's centrepiece is a three part track called 'Octo Realm/Ketamine Sun'. It starts off with can only be described as an advert for an imaginary program called "The Ketisons" (is that a pun on the awful old Hanna Barbera cartoon the Jetsons, which was basically the Flintstones in the space age? We may never know). Here you have what I assume are Fall members saying things like "Hi, I'm Rob, and I'm cynical" in a deadpan voice, and "Hi, I'm smartarse" in a smartarsy voice, over the top of some nice Blue Jam-esque ambient electronic music. Then it segues into some of Mark's lo-fi freeform poetry, which is mercifully short and does include the classic line "you're a walking tower of Adidas crap". That has to be the best insult EVER. And then we get 'Ketamine Sun' itself, which actually I didn't think too much of at first. It does sound a bit dirge-like and boring, and the production is a little muddy compared to the rest of the album, and even out of tune. But after a few listens you realise that it actually is a very good song, especially when Mark sings the chorus "K-k-k-k-ketamine sun" over what sounds like a melodica.

'Serum' is especially fantastic, with pounding industrial-strength drums and a guitar line which is nicked wholesale from 'the Crying Marshal' from 'The Marshal Suite'. Marks sings about how "many have found pleasures in curvaceous women, their undulating curves, upper and lower, but what I f-ing need is a glass of cold water". Genius.

Then we have the bloody hilarious 'Pumpkin Soup and Mashed Potatoes'. This is the Fall..doing jazz. Seriously. Mark attempts to actually sing on this track, and when you hear him croon "pumpkin soup and mashed potatoes, that has always been my dream" I can't help but laugh. Actually, though, once you get past the initial hilarity, it's quite a good tune!

'Hands up Billy' is written and sung by guitarist Neville Wilding, and it's surprisingly good. 'Midwatch 1953' is one of the album's more experimental tracks and would have fitted nicely on Levitate. It sounds like three different songs being played at once! Mark sings "Midwatch. Who could foresee, what happened in 1953?" If anyone knows what did happen in 1953, I would dearly like to know. The song goes on for about five minutes, but I never get bored by it. It becomes almost hypnotic after a while. 'Devolute' doesn't have a tune as such. Listen to this song on headphones to get the full experience, as Mark hectors you in two different speakers at once. There's a great bit where out of the blue he spits "fat arse!". And it ends with the sound of a ping -pong ball being bounced on the floor. Hmm. Closing track 'Das Katerer' has exactly the same riff as the classic 'Free Range' from 'Code Selfish', but of course that's no bad thing. It isn't nearly as good as Free Range of course, but it's still a fiendishly catchy dance-y track.

Well, like I said before this is just a brilliant album. It is definitely one of the best albums released this year, and I would go so far as to say that it is one of the best things the Fall have ever done (and that is saying a lot). Most of the tracks are up there with the best Fall songs, and the production by Grant Showbiz is superb throughout. Its just so great to see Mark come back from the brink after many people had written him off with an album this good. When you think that this is something like their 25th album, and they still sound so fresh, innovative and ahead of most other bands, you can't help but feel that Mark E Smith is a genius. I can't wait for the next one.