Hurts - Surrender

Whether it’s my twelve year old self’s deceptive memory of Hurts’ debut five years ago, or the brief period of time my dad would turn the volume of Wonderful Life up when it came on the radio; an odd magnetic nostalgia pulled me to the new release of Surrender, the third full album from the Manchester duo. However, the hopeful child inside me was to be let down. Not only did Surrender disappoint on the re-living memories forefront, but also on actually being a decent record itself; because to be honest, it’s not. With a commercialism that leads me to a variety of facial expressions (disappointment, boredom, maybe even slightly cringeful), Hurts seem to have lost their previous strongly grounded sound.
The overly pop enhanced album doesn’t seem redeemable on any points, Some Kind Of Heaven and Lights both including an unnecessary gospel choir accompaniment that completely negates previously subtle and entwined religious tonality you’d find on their other two albums. A “comeback” album that seems like a pitiful and useless tap on the shoulder rather than the full force punch they needed, ‘Surrender’ is definitely the stance Hurts would take if this album took it to the ring with any new albums being released at the moment. And for the twelve year old self inside, this album hurts more than said boxing match.