Artists should be more cutthroat, yes, they should. Shame offered a biting and considerably cool experience with their Food for Worms album and looks to continue the theme but the skill with Cutthroat and the lead single of the same name. They’re a bright spark of a band and show as much with these next steps after Food for Worms. A well-deserved success it was, and the band sounds ready to push on with more of that magic. That dance-punk edge is a charm, a confident change-up from their wonderful, preceding sounds. Shame are like sharks. Death comes for them if they do not keep moving. Move we shall, and they too, because Cutthroat is a short and convincing slice of fun. Convincing work at the best of times, what seals Cutthroat and its somewhat stripped-back, simpler appeal, is the conviction that Shame shows. A song to play loud and lose yourself in, certainly.
It’s that sort of song. A crowd pleaser to get an audience moving. Lyrically, it does not need to do much, but trust Shame to at least carry out a fascinating story of Roman warfare and the primitive fun to be had with one another. Cutthroat makes a massive leap in tying the two together, but their very appearance alongside each other in lyrics from Charlie Steen is link enough. It’s placeholders for messages guided by the instrumentals anyway. Conviction is what makes Cutthroat. Those moments where you can shout along with a phrase or tone, “born to die,” for instance, are the real draw. What the band finds in the catharsis of getting louder is an adjustment to their attitude. Not a change in their stance or their beliefs, but in how to address them for an audience. Gone is the handholding, the patience needed to bring a new listener on board. This is a daring, roaring piece of work which cries out for a primal edge.
Cutthroat, and the songs to come from the upcoming album, are written with a sole goal in mind. Increase the tempo. Give the band a further spike of intensity to utilise when up close and personal with their audience. It matters not, then, the words which are used. There is still strong writing in place, as is to be expected of Shame, but it feels tertiary to the instrumental skill and the emotive crash that a well-paced piece can offer. Cutthroat has that boisterous, bouncing energy to it. Shame were seeking this energy on their previous tour, but realised all too late they had less than they liked. Rectifying that is the goal here, and it works a treat. A light and loose stomp around the dancefloor is hard to find, especially one where the relief it gives is all part of the bigger picture.
There is more to Cutthroat than the adrenaline to come from throwing yourself around at a gig. Shame did not need to do anything more than change their tempo, but it is a credit to their Windmill Scene origins that they do find a message in the madness. If you are born to die, then why not have a little fun while living? It’s a simple enough message, effective when paired with the crashing percussion, the stylish guitar. Shame is offering a different sound not because they found more to say with it, but because they wanted to. That is reason enough and convincing an audience of that comes easily when the band are true to themselves. That means, in turn, they are honest with their audience. It is not just Shame who can lose themselves in the rawness of Cutthroat.
