Album review: Dinosaur Pile-Up – I’ve Felt Better

Talent. Luck. A thick skin. They’re all things you need to succeed as a band. One thing that doesn’t get enough of a mention, though, is momentum – the ability to capitalise on the buzz you’ve built with the right tour or the right record at the right time.

Dinosaur Pile-Up could tell you all about it. Back in 2019, they released their fourth LP, Celebrity Mansions, as superb a collection of songs as someone after some brawny, British alt.rock could wish to hear. They were on a major label (Parlophone) and toured the U.S. with giants The Offspring and Sum 41, their song Back Foot having picked up heat on American radio. It felt like the Leeds rockers were on the precipice of something. Sadly, their next step was a stumble and fall, as singer-guitarist Matt Bigland’s health (and the health of the world) took a downturn.

The arrival of COVID and Matt’s diagnosis with ulcerative colitis, a chronic inflammatory bowel disease, set the band back no end. And while the frontman’s physical and mental health deteriorated to a dangerous extent, his stoicism meant that when people asked how he was, he’d simply reply: “I’ve felt better.” Those words, a stock response of some understatement, now provide the title for Dinosaur Pile-Up’s excellent return.

Given the breadless shit sandwich Matt has had to chow on for much of the past six years, the most surprising thing about I’ve Felt Better is how well it keeps a handle on the mania. Instead of allowing anger and bitterness to distort their sound, Matt and his bandmates Jim Cratchley and Mike Sheils have resumed doing what they do best, creating downtuned anthems with undeniable pop kernels at their heart, because these songs are for rock shows, not pity-parties.

Sadness makes an appearance, mind. How could it not? ‘I guess I’m back on the edge / Maybe I never left,’ Matt sings on hefty, metal flavoured opener ’Bout To Lose It, perhaps to suggest that the more things change, the more they stay the same, or to acknowledge that our problems may have been around longer than we think. The latter idea is certainly furthered on the heartbreaking closing track, I Don’t Love Nothing And Nothing Loves Me (‘Nothing’s ever going to change / Round and round I go again’).

In truth, we’re all dealt bad hands at the poker table we’re sitting at, but better luck may be a shuffle of the deck away. Fittingly, life’s juxtaposition of the divine and devastating is reflected in DPU’s marriage of rough-and-ready arrangements with words now packing greater emotional wallop. The title-track, for instance, nakedly declares: ‘I got sick, now shit’s not the same.’

Thankfully, the bad times don’t define I’ve Felt Better. Punk Kiss dates back to when DPU toured with Basement in 2016, hence their namecheck in the lyrics, celebrating the sense of community Matt witnessed among the Ipswich band’s fanbase. It’s great to see him continuing to put the objects of his ire in the crosshairs, too; the grungy Big Dogs takes aim at the notion of wealth supporting wealth (‘Big dogs eat for free’) over a track that swings like a giant mutt’s nuts.

So is I’ve Felt Better actually better than Dinosaur Pile-Up’s other three records? It’s hard to say, given the high standard they’ve always maintained, though the experience and depth it brings to a band who’ve never had a problem penning rock bangers may just edge it into first place. It’s a highly subjective call, of course, but what’s unquestionable is how good it is to have them back.

Verdict: 4/5

For fans of: Biffy Clyro, Weezer, Feeder

I've Felt Better is released on August 22 via Mascot. Come to the Dinosaur Pile-Up x Kerrang! pop-up party on September 13