Archive – Controlling Crowds Part IV

The final part of the Controlling Crowds concept gets an entire 50 minute album to its name, as opposed to the three EP-length segments on the first album. Bringing the whole series to over two hours, there's a sense of overkill here, but still some astonishing moments.

'Pills', immediately a fan favourite, opens the record on a fairly tense note reminiscent of part 1's 'Bullets'. Maria Q puts in another fantastic performance on lead vocals. The song builds to a thrilling climax which, along with the blend of industrial hip-hop and chugging rock sections on 'Lines', form the only really heavy moments on the album. Overall, the feeling of IV is much more subdued than I-III.

Dave Pen's 'The Empty Bottle' is a beautiful euphoric piece which may be a touch too reminiscent of someone like Snow Patrol for those who prefer Archive's darker material, but checks all the boxes here. The ambient water droplet synths of 'The Feeling of Losing Everything' are marvellously atmospheric. 'To the End', with Pen's voice simply accompanied by piano, follows some classic songwriting tropes, but does them with enough honesty to be genuinely touching. The airy 'Pictures' soars on euphoric bliss. 'Lunar Bender' concludes the disc on a similarly uplifting note, although one that does feel a bit slight in context of the full 126 minute work.

None of these songs fall below the staggeringly high standards set by the first Controlling Crowds album, which is hugely impressive. Sadly, the remaining pieces do let things down a little. The run of five songs between 'Remove' and 'Blood in Numbers' isn't bad by any means, but none of these songs stand out in the way that the others do. They either lack a certain spark, or simply sound too similar to other songs from these sessions.

The reason behind the separate releases of Parts I-III and IV isn't clear, although it's possible that it was related to their record label. Either way, I think it's a shame that the collection wasn't released as a double album in the first place, with two discs of ten tracks each: Parts I & II on CD1, and parts III & and the highlights of IV on CD2. If they'd done this, they would have archived the seemingly impossible: a flawless double album. As it is, Controlling Crowds Part IV still contains some of the band's best work, but it isn't quite the consistent record it could be.