Marmozets : CO.WAR.DICE.
Eight and half years have passed since Marmozets last released a record; luckily, CO.WAR.DICE., their new venture, makes transparently clear that their energy has not abated even slightly in the intervening nearly-a-decade. Older, wiser, and married-ier (vocalist Becca Bottomley and guitarist Jack Bottomley tied the knot in 2022, their relationship appearing as a topic more than once throughout the new album), the band are equally—or perhaps even more—capable of using their music to capture a sense of ferocious, sweaty hedonism as they were back in 2018.
Of the band’s previous two releases—their math-rock-tinged debut, The Weird and Wonderful Marmozets, and the dancier, glitchier follow-up, Knowing What You Know Now—CO.WAR.DICE. takes its cues very much from the latter. The most striking quality about the opener, “A Kiss From A Mother,” is that it’s a total misnomer, since it’s raging, febrile, and nothing like the sedate, tender scene that such a title would imply. It kicks off the record by smacking you square in the jaw; the band’s proverbial cobwebs are briskly dissolved—as are any lingering concerns about their new direction after all these years—as the track’s pulsing, thunderous beat raves onwards, making it an easy fit for either the mosh pit or the dancefloor.
This attitude is all but amplified by the next tune, “New York,” which is an outrageously direct love letter to the city, praising it for its life, its music, and its ample opportunities for binge drinking, all tied together by a run of colossal, churning power chords and the invigorating forward-march of drums designed to get you tearing through the streets at 3 o’clock in the morning.
While more cynical bands might sneak in a few lyrics mentioning the hangover, the exhaustion, how the party-lifestyle isn’t all it’s cracked up to be—the old upbeat song, downer lyrics dynamic—Marmozets seem to have very little interest in that. It’s really rather refreshing, and it’s when they occupy this space, showing us what it’s like to have nothing but a brute force good time, that they really thrive. Some of the album’s greatest highs are drawn from this approach, such as “Like Last Night,” whose truly gigantic, storming, break beat-style drums and fun-loving energy could, in a pinch, make for a pretty serviceable replacement defibrillator.
CO.WAR.DICE. has a little more trouble finding its footing when it relaxes from hitting us all guns blazing. Which is not to say Marmozets are only capable of playing at one volume—indeed, “Dandy,” which sees an acoustic guitar complemented by ephemeral synths and Bottomley’s angelic vocals, sounds genuinely completely gorgeous, and is an ideal way to bring a sense of ebb and flow into an otherwise fairly intense record. But there are a few other tracks that appear to be reaching for the same idea and not quite getting there—suggesting, maybe, that Marmozets haven’t quite finished fleshing out what their sound could be when they’re not turning it up to 11.
We scarcely need to worry, of course, because when they are, we’re treated to a scorchingly powerful, blindingly brilliant masterclass in stadium rock. And (because I know such terms are often used pejoratively by music snobs) allow me to clarify; the stadium is, truly, the ideal venue for CO.WAR.DICE. The greatest songs therein deserve to be heard live and heard loud—preferably in the epicenter of a thrumming crowd who are all riding the same high as you are. And, after all, if you’ve managed to fill up a stadium, you must be doing something right. Marmozets certainly are.
Label: Nettwerk
Year: 2026
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