Suede – Bloodsports Review

What was meant as a one-off return has spawned a tremendous time for Suede and their fans. There is a sense of making good on what became a dud finale to their first run. A New Morning is no way to end a band, so Bloodsports sets the record straight eleven years after their previous release. This is no small feat. Suede could have rallied the reunion circuit with hits forevermore. Nobody would have thought any less of them in doing this, but in the creation of new material comes the risk which artists often thrive off. Bloodsports thrives on those glam rock fundamentals, the inherent sexuality and style from the best of Suede’s catalogue. Brett Anderson and the band provide themselves with a new risk not in material but at the time of release, a major shift away from their style does not hinder them.  

Bloodsports thrives more because it sticks firm to the fundamental sound Suede created. Anderson has often maintained steady, carnal commentary through his works but Bloodsports feels like a succession of the chase, and instead focuses on how to keep the fire burning once the door is closed. It Starts and Ends with You maintains the driving force of this – the desire to blend Coming Up with Dog Man Star. It works. Hairline cracks for It Stars and Ends with You may be the highlight of this album – the constant appearance of it in live shows makes sense, it fits the mould of all those classics which will forever define Suede. They are improving their sound through Bloodsports, testing the waters of a new vocal range for Anderson while keeping the Britpop style which still defines them. It is a worthy blur of instrumental brilliance and a fascination with the past.  

This fascination does not overtake the innovations to be heard on Bloodsports, with Sabotage a firm kick towards new, bass and percussion-led thrills. For the Strangers has a similar-sounding guitar riff to The Drowners, but the loose ties to those early days feel immaculately drawn upon, a hint at rather than a spotlight on where Suede has grown from. Somehow, Bloodsports not only captures the essential sounds of Suede in their earliest formations but develops it, and grows it as an exciting extension of their best works. Hit Me is a rousing piece of work from the band, one of those heavy guitar-driven pieces which fades out as the band themselves did at the turn of the century. They kick on with a budget opening them to string sections, to reflective flickers later turned over on Autofiction a decade later.  

Bloodsports remains a rare beast. It is not easy to pull off all the right spots of a reunion album and yet this one proved so exciting, so formidable when compared to the classics, that the band stuck together. Impressive work is not the surprise here, what becomes the real draw is how Anderson and the band not only maintain the quality of their previous highs but develop them further, bringing them to the breaking point. Always and What Are You Not Telling Me? feature as some last-gasp emotional highs, the brutality of it exposed by some tremendous writing from Anderson. His ambiguity is replaced by an urgency, a reflective tone which has guided Suede through some of their all-time greats of late, a consistency like this is key to any successful revival. Bloodsports is the first in a row of brilliant works from the band, and their ability to maintain the sounds of the past while also cutting through a new phase of glam rock-styled songs is the key to this success.