Album Reviews

Almost two decades after the dissolution of his post-hardcore band Million Dead and being declared crazy by his friends after announcing a solo folk album would be his next feat, Frank Turner is ‘still standing up’ as he states in ‘Do One,’ the catchy as all hell opening track of his tenth studio album, ‘Undefeated’. It’s been a wild ride since the release of 2007’s ‘Sleep Is For The Week’. Turner just announced show number 3000, sold out Wembley, played 50 US states in 50 days and gave us too many classics to name.

A wild ride is also a pretty apt description for ‘Undefeated’. A reminder of just how diverse Frank Turner songs can be.  ‘Undefeated’ jumps from nostalgia-drenched musings on lost love (‘East Finchley’ and ‘Letters’), to energy blasts like the Elvis Costello-esque ‘Girl From The Record Shop’ and the fuck you to gatekeeping that is ‘No Thank You For The Music’.  There are expansive songs that build up to dramatic climaxes (‘Ceasefire’, ‘Somewhere Inbetween’) alongside a fragile, acoustic song like ‘On My Way’ and the quintessential Frank Turner cut that is ‘International Hide And Seek Champions’.

‘Undefeated’ is a little bit of everything, a smorgasbord of all that Turner has to offer as well as a celebration of the long way he has come since first treating us to ‘The Ballad Of Me And My Friends’. And most importantly: it all still sounds equally heartfelt, sincere and life-affirming.

Undefeated track list:

1. Do One
2. Never Mind The Back Problems
3. Ceasefire
4. Girl From The Record Shop
5. Pandemic PTSD
6. Letters
7. East Finchley
8. No Thank You For The Music
9. The Leaders
10. International Hide and Seek Champions
11. Show People
12. On My Way
13. Somewhere Inbetween
14. Undefeated