For a band with such a messy past as Naked Lunch (alcohol-related death, poverty, industrial frictions, a night in the cells…) to return with a single so focused and delicately interesting is a marvel. It shouldn't unduly sway the way we receive it, of course, but it certainly adds a frisson that, if absent, would render the heartaches displayed here somewhat cod. And maybe heartaches aren't what we're listening to. There is tension, wrought and racked smashing of drums and keys like Sigur Ros in a fight and, importantly, the most affirming of lyrics.
Speaking plainly and confidently of "the day I found myself", our hero Oliver Welter is renewed and vigorous, looking to the future and counting his blessings. Far from being self-congratulatory, this is rather convincing and entertaining. While we shouldn't really read anything into the band's monumentally troubled past, it is impossible not to be a little bit pleased that they've come out the other side with a wonderful single like 'Military Of The Heart'.
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8Daniel Ross's Score