Did you know that 65% of UK homes contain at least one magnolia wall? I bet you didn't.
Slaves return with their third album, their last record "Take Control" is a self-confessed misfire - but I was a big fan of that album, it was a little bit heavier than their previous effort and yet I felt that it was more self-controlled and I felt that it was more "Slaves-y". I can understand Isaac and Laurie's concerns with that album though because in their own words it felt "Like a mixtape" because they just threw everything they'd made on it. Hence why "Acts of Fear and Love" sits at just 9 tracks refined to the extreme.
The first single from the album, "Cut and Run", is going to be a future cult classic and it's already a fan favourite with thanks to the dance. Not only this but I feel like no one ever acknowledges the recorder in the chorus - completely and utterly out of tune and yet horrendously loveable. The album opens with "The Lives They Wish They Had" which throws out the assumptions they were making a slower album and goes in heavy from the start and whilst it does slow down after this they just had to let you know that they still have the fire in them. "The Lives They Wish They Had" attacks the modern culture of social media and envy until Isaac gets so angry in the last 30 seconds of the song that he just starts screaming.
The album really peaks when it slows down though, showing the softer side of Isaac and Laurie and exemplifying Isaac has a really nice voice. "Photo Opportunity" is phenomenal, a peak into the life of someone in the public eye who doesn't always have enough time to take pictures with you, it edges on punk in the chorus as the drums kick in - not to mention it's an absolute beauty to see live. And "Daddy" is a song filled with anger without showing any of it.
A personal favourite on the album though is the album closer and it's namesake, "Acts of Fear and Love" a tune that reminds me very heavily of the late Ian Dury and his son Baxter. Slaves do have a knack for closing their albums with touches of sheer genius as "Sugar Coated Bitter Truth" showed on "Are You Satisfied?".
9/10