An eight-year gap separated 2015's
What the World Needs Nowâ?¦, the second album from
John Lydon's 21st century lineup of
Public Image Ltd., and 2023's
End of World, and for a change the time away from the studio and
John Lydon's crankiness can be easily explained -- his wife, Nora Forster, died in April 2023 after a long struggle with Alzheimer's disease, with
Lydon serving as her primary caregiver in her last years. If anyone thought the experience might mellow the former
Johnny Rotten a little, they're a tiny bit right -- the closing track, "Hawaii," was written for Forster, and it's a rare moment where he writes and sings from a place of compassion, offering an image of comfort and serenity to someone slipping into the darkness. Otherwise,
End of World is clearly the work of British rock's leading cranky ranter. If there's a slightly more rueful tone in some of the other 12 tracks, "Pretty Awful," "L F C F," and "Down on the Clown" suggest he has no more use for humanity now than he ever has, and anyone who was not pleased with his endorsements of
Donald Trump and Brexit should skip "Being Stupid Again," where he spits bile at activists and students. (Though how many are really shouting to Ban the Bomb or Save the Whales in 2023? Does
Lydon know what year it is?) Musically,
End of World marks the first time
PiL has had the same lineup for three albums in a row. While subtle is not an adjective often applied to this band, guitarist
Lu Edmonds, bassist
Scott Firth, and drummer
Bruce Smith play together with an authority and sense of communication that's audible in the sinewy groove of "Walls" and the off-kilter late-night rhythms of "Dirty Murky Delight" (the latter suggesting
Lydon has been listening to his old
Ian Dury records recently) as much as the louder, more ferocious attack of "North West Passage" and the title track, which hit hard without overplaying their hand.
End of World isn't as immediately satisfying as the two albums that preceded it, but unlike lesser first-era
PiL releases like 1984's
This Is What You Wantâ?¦This Is What You Get and 1992's
That What Is Not, here
Lydon has ideas and sounds focused on making them into something, and he has a band capable of giving him all the support he needs. It's not entirely successful, but it's not lazy, either, and at this stage of
Lydon's career (and given a very trying situation at home), that's to be commended. ~ Mark Deming