KIDS IN GLASS HOUSES – IN GOLD BLOOD
Released 15th August 2011 (Roadrunner Records)

Words: Kelly Jones

Kids In Glass Houses have made a slow but solid infiltration into the Welsh music scene, slotting in neatly against such names as Lostprophets and The Blackout. However, with In Gold Blood KIGH set themselves a bar higher, and put themselves in an entirely different ballpark. This isn’t like their previous albums, their third venture has set them apart as different entity. No longer content with playing alongside, the quintet have stepped forward and produced an impeccable album.
The album kicks off with title track In Gold Blood, three minutes and twenty eight seconds that could easily sum up the entire album. It incorporates everything the album contains and promises to grab your attention and hold it hard for the next forty minutes.
The album is comprised of hard-hitting guitar driven songs, paced so the entire album feels like a ride, and it’s not one KIGH are allowing you to get off. There are some weaker songs in the mix, but overall what KIGH have achieved is an album that throws them far away from their previous endeavours, and it’s quite clear that the chance they took with a radical maturity is going to pay off.
The singles from the album ‘Animal’ and ‘In Gold Blood’ have been well chosen as stand out songs. However, ‘Fire’ and ‘Only The Brave Die’ are hidden gems towards the tail-end of the album. It’s positively anthemic and seamlessly blends KIGH’s talent for memorable tunes and their newly discovered fully fledged sound.
Despite having a handful of stand out songs on the album, several find themselves lost in the sound, and at points the songs begin to run into one another and are considerably less memorable, including tracks like ‘The Florist’. However, their presence on the album does little to detriment it’s overall quality.
Quite brilliantly KIGH have made an album that carries you through forty minutes without allowing your attention to wander. Despite the weaker songs it’s quite clear they’ve managed to encapsulate their aspirations for this album neatly. They aimed to push themselves further, and have achieved a new found freedom alongside the progressive new grounds they’re treading. Perhaps not considered to be musically groundbreaking, but certainly a grand leap forward for this Welsh quintet.