Album review: Morrissey, Low in High School

Morrissey has a new album out titled Low in High School

With the world spiralling out of control you have to wonder where all the protest music is. Enter... Morrissey?

Global conflict is very much on Moz's mind on this new record. So there's songs about oil wars, the futility of losing your life in battle, nuclear devastation, police brutality, dictatorships, culture wars, religious extremism and - of course - fake news.

While it's not exactly The Wall, he's veering dangerously close to Roger Waters territory here.

It's heavy stuff. And for the most part Morrissey delivers his words bluntly, displaying little of his famed lyricism.

Indeed, "Wrap your legs around my face just to greet me," has to be among the worst he's ever penned. The only worse lyrics I can think of are "Everything I know deserts me now, when you open your legs," which are also on this album in the song When You Open your Legs.

Cringe-inducing yes, but the soaring change into that dreadful chorus line is ridiculously catchy and almost purposefully designed to catch you out singing it in public ...

Conflict and coitus make for uneasy bedfellows, apart from on highlight, and lead single, the miserably jaunty earworm Spent the Day in Bed.

It's on this song where his world's collide, his tactless approach ("Stop watching the news! Because the news contrives to frighten you" - and yes, these are verse lyrics) with the wry of old ("I spent the day in bed, I'm not my type" - which is much more like it).

Sadly, there's more of the former than the latter. which has the unfortunate side effect of making it feel like you're sometimes being lectured at by a terrible opinion column.

But when he gets it right, like on the sombre In Your Lap, the dramatic 7-minute centrepiece I Bury the Living or the loose and ramshackle All the Young People Must Fall in Love, Morrissey really hits it home.

While the album's unlikely to kickstart the revolution, at the very least let's hope Morrissey feels a little better having got it all off his chest.

Artist: Morrissey
Album: Low in High School
Label: BMG
Verdict: One for the die-hards.