THE Jesus and Mary Chain formed in East Kilbride in 1983, signed to Alan McGee’s Creation Records in 1984 and helped re-popularise the use of guitar feedback. They would go on to  influence a new wave of music called shoegaze and the rest is history. Their seventh studio album Damage and Joy marks the first album in nearly two decades from one of Scotland’s most important guitar bands. Originally active from 1983-1997, they released 6 studio albums throughout their first stint as a band, beginning with their 1985 debut Psychocandy and ending with their sixth LP Munki, in 1998. Now, over 19 years have passed, and Damage and Joy marks the first official studio album since the band reformed in 2007.

Released through Artificial Plastic Records, the album was produced by Youth (Killing Joke, The Firehorse), and, in typical Mary Chain fashion, features a myriad of guest female vocals across the sprawling 14 song track list. For a band often credited as pioneers of shoegaze and the feedback revival, their is an undeniable slickness and polish to the sonic layout of Damage and Joy, even in the band’s employment of noise. There is always a sense of the Mary Chain being in control of the chaos. Lyrically, Damage and Joy is a typical affair for The Jesus and Mary Chain, as 19 years later they still seem concerned with literally singing about sex, drugs and rock n’ roll: constant references are littered from album opener ‘Amputation’ to closer ‘Can’t Stop The Rock’, and the Reid’s still feel like excitable boys in their mid-20s.

The first single to be released, ‘Amputation’, acts as the album’s opening mission statement. Jim Reid has described the song as a retaliation to a perceived lack of interest in The Jesus and Mary Chain, compared to bands who were influenced by or sound like them – “I’m a Rock ’n’ Roll amputation.” Second track ‘War On Peace’ is a sultry slow-burner with a tension filled crescendo and features classic Mary Chain feedback throughout, and is made up of the trademark Reid brothers songwriting that has influenced the likes of Anton Newcombe of The Brian Jonestown Massacre. Second single ‘Always Sad’ is a love-fuelled duet between Jim Reid and Bernadette Denning. All joyful guitar riffs, it’s hinged on a typical Mary Chain juxtaposition: “I think I’m always gonna be sad/ Because you’re the best I ever had.” ‘The Two Of Us’ is finely distilled optimistic abandon and features the best chorus on the album.

‘Presidici (Et Chapaquiditch)’ is built with infectious melody and sees the Reid’s understated arrogance rear its head – “if you cant love yourself / it’s bad for your health.” ‘Get On Home’s Britpop guitar riffs feels likes they’ve been pulled straight out of the 90s. ‘Facing Up To The Facts’ references the Reid’s famously tumultuous relationship – “I hate my brother, he hates me / and that’s the way its supposed to be” but revels in both the humour and musical value of this longstanding brotherly disparity. The song is instilled with a charming bravado and another stubborn and energetic chorus.

Overall, Damage and Joy manages to sound  simultaneously fresh and as though it could have come out in 1997. Ultimately, The Jesus and Mary Chain still feel entirely relevant and this is not an attempt to rehash past glories.