All Saints - Testament

The Guardian 60

(Absolute/AS Recordings)

Initially sold as the Spice Girls’ sassier rivals, All Saints quickly proved to have far greater depth, distinguished as they were by Shaznay Lewis’s superior songwriting chops. Intra-band squabbles over a combat jacket might have cut short the party in 2001, and their first comeback, in 2006, was underwhelming. But their third coming, starting with 2016’s Red Flag and now continuing with Testament, finds them going some way to recapturing past glories.

It helps that Lewis is working with songwriting partner Karl “K-Gee” Gordon again, but it all starts with a misstep: the spoken-word intro to opener Who Do You Love is too clumsy a nod to the pop majesty of Never Ever. Thankfully, this is the only time they slip into self-parody. Three Four is all rolling momentum and dovetailing harmonies; recent single Love Lasts Forever displays a deliciously light touch; After All, one of two collaborations with producer William Orbit, recalls his work on Pure Shores; Glorious shares a martial beat with Little Mix’s Salute (although, sadly, none of the latter’s brilliantly deranged military analogies). It’s let down by a few too many unremarkable ballads (Fumes, I Would), but that doesn’t detract from the fact that Testament shows this comeback is more than simply an exercise in nostalgia.

Sun Jul 29 07:00:55 GMT 2018

The Guardian 40

(AS Recordings)

All Saints’ fifth album starts with a spoken-word segment recounting a mother’s prophecy about being torn between two kinds of men: those who will give you the life you want, and those offering the love you desire. But the song itself, Who Do You Love, presents a different kind of crossroads: are All Saints harking back to the infamous spoken-word bit that opened their classic 1997 single Never Ever, or setting the scene for an attempt at a Beyoncé-style Serious Album? The answer, going by the inclusion of two “interludes” on a 13-track album, appears to be both.

Neither lands. Despite having almost identical personnel to All Saints’ 2016 comeback Red Flag, Testament fails to recapture its surprisingly assured ease. The production is a mess. It is anyone’s guess why the only 90s girlband who could actually sing would crowd their enduring harmonies with chaotic digital clutter, but the four-piece are lost beneath the pixellated junkyard production (on Three Four), left eating dust by breathless drum’n’bass breakdowns (Love Lasts Forever), or pummelled by weirdly incessant tribal drums (No Issues). Much of Testament is clenched and over-serious: Fumes’ Middle Eastern tinges and portentous cries are baffling. (Also: Fumes?) Glorious is clearly intended as a feminist rallying cry à la Little Mix and Beyoncé, but comes off more like a cringey musical number about female empowerment. The “oh na na” backing vocals and tribal drums are very Lion King, and there’s a chronic open goal: the chorus about being “glorious”, “victorious” is, unfortunately, extremely laborious.

Fri Jul 27 08:30:17 GMT 2018