mvm.

Last Friday, Miles Kane released “Coup de Grace” as his third studio album. Miles has taken a big break from his solo work, last releasing way back in 2013. He has been too busy palling up with Turner in The Last Shadow Puppets to take notice of his own work.

But now, following on from “Don’t Forget Who You Are” in 2013, he has released a truly explosive album, in a feeling of what Arctic Monkey’s new sound could of sound like, if Turner had not fell in the sunken depths of his ego.

It is known that Kane and Turner share a true musical bromance with each other – and its evident even more so in Kane’s new work, with his lyrics and singing style taking full influence from Turner. Throughout the album, his singing has become more “slurred” and exaggerated just like Turner’s iconic singing.

The first four songs beat and berate you all over the place – strong songs placed firmly at the start of the album. “Too Little Too Late” and “Cry On My Guitar” are true eclectic rock n roll songs with effective melodies, thumping bass and powerful vocals that push this album out of the block.

“Killing The Joke” tells us that Kane may be doing solo work, but he’s still going to sliver in a little bit of Puppets. Synths galore, it really hones in the lasting effects of The Last Shadow Puppets. Hidden in an frenzied album, it makes a change and gives us another taste of how talented Kane is.

Shouty and very 80s-like, “Coup de Grace,” is a somewhat empty song, relying solely on Kane’s shouting the title over and over again until it becomes annoying. I cringe as soon as Kane starts singing on the first verse, as it sounds exactly like Turner. Scary like. They are slowly becoming one musician. Good tune but skippable.

Filler songs, “Silverscreen” and “Wrong Side of Life” deliver similar styles and licks as The Puppets do in the newer stuff. I’ve gotta say though, I love Kane’s aggressive shouty lyrics in “Wrong Side of Life” – straining his voice almost as if it hurts to tell the story within the song; brilliant!

The album concludes with James Bond-esque, “Shavambacu,” a name of a song almost directly taken from Turner’s lyric book for Monkeys’ Tranquility Base Hotel and Casino. It doesn’t really go anywhere, and so just ends rather unemphatically.

Overall, ‘Coup De Grace’ offers splendours for all fans of Miles’ work, delivering feverous rock bangers aswell as slow and peaceful Puppets songs within the middle and end of the album. But Turner’s presence is coated throughout, which is not necessarily a bad thing, showing his influences through the past year – a different side of Kane’s lyrical writing and delivery. It’s not always a good thing always however – if not for Kane’s gasp of rock n roll cling on, this would be just another Puppets album under a different name. Perhaps not what he was aiming for. 

RATING: 3.5/5

BEST SONG: Cry On My Guitar