Album Review: The Hypnogogue by The Church

With over 40 years and 25 albums to their name since forming in Sydney back in 1980, The Church have rightly earned their place as one of the most influential bands to emerge from the original wave of post-punk. Cited by a multitude of artists ever since as being an inspiration--Robert Smith and The Cure being particularly vocal fans--The Church are one of those bands that have become synonymous with many musicians' style of playing and song arrangements. So, the prospect of a new album--the band's first since 2017's Man Woman Life Death Infinity--is every bit as mouthwatering as it is dramatic.

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Photo by Hugh Stewart "The Hypnogogue" flickers to life in a glittering lattice of guitars, 35 years on but not so different from the trebly foreboding heard in "Reptile" from the landmark Starfish. Steve Kilbey, the only continuing thread between then and now, remains unruffled and nonchalant, his voice shrouded in echoes, reverberating without apparent effort. "Remember the music pulled out of your head," he breathes in a tone somewhere between a sigh and rafter-tickling anthemry, "Insulating guitars/Reptilian bass, the kick in your face/The snare in your heart." The Hypnogogue is the Church's 26th album, and Kilbey has intimated that it may be the band's last.

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