The Cranberries - Bury The Hatchet

Arizona Daily Wildcat

Let's face it - the last Cranberries album pretty much sucked. Somewhere between the sheer poetry and sonic texture of No Need To Argue and the release of To The Faithful Departed, something went wrong. The emotional majesty of Dolores O'Riordan's Celtic-driven voice, along with her lamenting lyrics, used to stir powerful emotion in the listener. Now she just seems kind of whiney.

The tracks on Bury The Hatchet, the band's latest offering, don't suffer from the major fault of those on the last album - the sort of in-your-face political correctness in songwriting that borders on naiveté - but there isn't much to them. They're overly saccharine creations with little substance and few distinguishing features, other than an apparent attempt to incorporate eighties synth-pop influences into the band's sound. Not the best idea.

There just doesn't seem to be any feeling behind the Cranberries' music anymore. In fact, if you listen to the Cranberries albums in reverse order, from newest to oldest, it's like witnessing the development of a fantastic act. I suppose this means that next time all we'll get is a bunch of four-track demos recorded in a garage somewhere. Still, there's always hope.

- doug levy