Kaiser Chiefs have always been at their best when writing songs with huge choruses and an intense sound even when singing about the most depressing of topics. No matter what the subject, you could sense that Ricky Wilson really meant what he was singing about and that his emotions came from a real place. This is what really turned me on to their past releases, Employment and much of Yours Truly, Angry Mob. Unfortunately, I can’t say the same about the Chiefs’ latest effort, Off With Their Heads.
This latest effort, though lacking in the raw emotion of their past albums, is still a very solid output. There are still the very catchy songs that every Kaiser Chiefs fan can love. Tracks like “Never Miss A Beat” and “Like it Too Much” are as enjoyable as any other of their past tracks, but the emotion seems to have been sacrificed. As much as it pains me to say it, producer Mark Ronson seems to be the problem. I love much of the work he has done, but his style paired with Kaiser Chiefs just doesn’t seem like a good fit. Dance beats and other fine tuning in the production department seem to have taken away from the overall sound that made the band so accessible to me in the past.
Looking back at what I’ve written, I feel like I might be letting on that I did not enjoy this album. That couldn’t be farther from the truth. It still has been one of my favorite listens of the year. The Chiefs still create some of the most fun Brit Pop out there. I was just hoping for another album like Employment and it unfortunately fell short of that.
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