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The more sonic and driving tracks basically bookend Ringleader, while the emotional roller coaster is allowed to ramble within. Unsurprisingly, the disc is not shy of mopey moments.
The phrase “hope you like children’s choirs” was muttered to me when receiving Morrissey’s new studio release. The appearance of said choir, although surprisingly abundant at first listen (“The Youngest Was the Most Loved,” “The Father Who Must Be Killed,” “At Last I Am Born”), does not weigh heavily throughout the disc, nor is it a distracting addition to the traditional swooning style of the Smiths’ ex-frontman.
Melodically and musically lightweight in comparison with 2004’s You Are the Quarry, Ringleader of the Tormentors is typical Morrissey with broader musical and emotional charm. Tony Visconti (producer of ’60s- and ’70s-era T. Rex and David Bowie) allows the 12 tracks to breathe with a more airy, less-compressed production. This may allow the listener to submit to the seven-plus minute “Life Is a Pigsty” which, behind the smooth and soothing rhythms of Gary Day (bass) and Matt Chamberlain (drums), adorns the clichéd soothing rainstorm. The more sonic and driving tracks basically bookend Ringleader, while the emotional roller coaster is allowed to ramble within.
Unsurprisingly, the disc is not shy of mopey moments. On “The Father Who Must Be Killed,” Morrissey narrates the death of the parents by a knife-wielding child. “I’ll Never Be Anybody’s Hero Now” is going to be a self-hating mantra for the new era. However, his eighth solo record harnesses Morrissey’s ever-evolving emotions. Not every track will cause a descent into depression like Moz’s detractors would argue. Introspective, unhappy, and alone in Rome, the singer ends a track positively by detailing his resolving of inner torment with a sexual rendezvous: “Now I’m spreading your legs/with mine in between” (“Dear God Please Help Me”). These lines are the lesser of the lyric’s sexual innuendos. The disc’s first single, “You Have Killed Me,” boasts, “I entered nothing/and nothing entered me/till you came.” The album also finds Morrissey reiterating how much he hates life, but that he loves being in love (“Life Is a Pigsty”).
The lyrics to Ringleader’s closing track (“At Last I Am Born”) are the most positive and poignant: “I once thought that I/had numerous reasons to cry/and I did—but I don’t anymore/because I am born.” And these words are more fitting now than ever, as this month Moz celebrates his 47th birthday. Wish Moz a happy birthday May 22 by giving yourself Ringleader of the Tormentors.
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