Album review: YUNGBLUD – Idols

When YUNGBLUD announced that he’d be making a double album, it was pretty easy to envision it being something completely loud, unruly, and bold. Idols is his fourth studio album after all, and we know what Dom Harrison is all about by now. Or so we thought. Opening with a nine-minute rock odyssey is certainly one way to say, “I am not fucking about”, and as he describes it himself, Idols is a “love letter to life; in all it’s fucking madness". It certainly shows.

His most ambitious release to date, and only just the first half of it, Idols is a courageous body of work that celebrates the concept of self. Hello Heaven, Hello sets an expansive and dreamy precedent, packing in everything from classic rock guitar tones and beefy drums, to orchestral elements and soothing acoustic sounds.

The album tips its hat to the bands that made the '80s and '90s two decades of unforgettable music, with Lovesick Lullaby oozing Britpop swagger and charm nestled among greatly pieced together tracks that shapeshift like Queen.

Perhaps the most exciting listen of all is Ghosts, a six-minute belter with a mighty instrumental outro. Kicking off with a U2-esque delayed guitar melody, it evolves into a beast of incredible drum textures, intertwining bass and guitar, and even a raucous scream from Dom that in a sense symbolises his liberation from the swirling hell of opinions that has tormented his career.

The young and rambunctious rockstar that once sang about taping grenades to his face and ‘getting drunk at quarter to one’ is grown up and fully realised on Idols. It’s a go-getter of a record that pays homage to the greats whilst still feeling brand new. YUNGBLUD’s outlandishness makes him a hard pill to swallow for some, but his guts, drive, and devotion to his craft cannot be denied. Bring on part two…

Verdict: 4/5

For fans of: U2, Blur, Queen

Idols is released on June 20 via Capitol