Favez - 'Bigger Mountains, Higher Flags' (Gentlemen) Released 25/02/08

Returning via. Switzerland with a ninth studio album – Favez are hailing this year as their “much-awaited comeback”. But if we’re all being honest, most of you reading this won’t have heard of Favez and won’t have been a fan since 1993. A career spanning fifteen years without getting global recognition shows guts, determination and a passion for the music they’re making. And in their “return” record ‘Bigger Mountains, Higher Flags’, the band still don’t sound like they’re showing off.

Instead, in this record you hear catchy chorus’ in the form of ‘When We Were Kings’ and the following ‘She Wakes Up Every Night’, you hear simplistic lyrics made to sound heroic by the distortion and drive that the songs hold and you hear a band on top of their game – no question about it, whether this is the first or ninth Favez record you’ve heard. But if we are comparing this work to their previous practice, Favez look slightly petty. It’s less bassy and more fuzzy, it’s less daring and more anthemic, it’s less brutal and more innocent. It’s evident that Favez may have made an error in making this record squeaky-clean without any studio errors. Nothing sounds genuine, instead false.

Nevertheless, despite what the band seem to have lost in this record, they still retain their ability to write ferocious rock songs. They’ve avoided all the softer-material (apart from closer ‘We Used To Fight A Lot’) that previous albums consisted of and instead have attempted to write edgier tales in edgier forms. In ‘The Goodbye Song’ the band even try to go “epic”. Lyrics never persist in chorus-form, chords become progressive and they recognise the risks in writing a 7 minute song placed in the middle of a record by stating “he felt the life go out once again/ just like a goodbye song/ that goes on too long”.

In terms of meeting the giants of ‘Citizen Erased’ et. all, it isn’t up to scratch, but somehow this seemingly mindless idea is pulled off and despite it not being the highlight of the album, it’s the song they deserve most credit for. Elsewhere, the moments that shine through aren’t hard to come by. In particular ‘White Limousine’, standing tall at the end of the record and somehow keeping you aware with bloodthirsty contributions from all members – a running theme. And so whether Favez’s return after 3 years has been much awaited or not is debatable but they most definitely have a solid fan base and have a solid batch of respect placed by their sides.

They have taken a similar course to Idlewild in recording an album that takes them back to their early roots yet stands out as the most radio-friendly record of them all. All the less, fans will be delighted in their masses and remembering those chorus’ off by heart in a matter of minutes.