Review: Del Amitri – “Fatal Mistakes”

For the first time since 2002, Del Amitri are back with a new album with the release of Fatal Mistakes. However, despite remaining in our hearts and in our ears over the years, is this latest release the return we’d all hoped for or does it fail to live up to the beloved legacy they’ve built throughout their career?

I often find that sometimes when a band comes back after a long time away, not only is there a high expectation for them to deliver something special upon their return, but there’s always that feeling of apprehension in the pit of your stomach that they just won’t be as good as you remember. As a result, your mind starts playing tricks on you and it’s hard to separate your true thoughts and feelings from your dreams and desires of what you wanted it to be.

For the most part, I found Fatal Mistakes to be a good dose of nostalgia but it lacked the ability to deliver anything fresh. Personal highlights for me are album opener, You Can’t Go Back, All Hail Blind Love and It’s Feelings however there are also a track or two on here that I wasn’t particularly fond of such as Musicians And Beer.

Production wise, I can’t fault the album whatsoever however I did find some of the writing to be a bit copy and paste from to time but ultimately, the biggest issue I have with the album is it just didn’t hold my attention the way I wanted it to. Perhaps, this is down to the unfortunate time of the album’s release, but I kept found myself tuning out and going looking for the new Texas album instead.

I’m sure Fatal Mistakes is going to please the old school fans of Del Amitri but after all these years I expected and hoped for something a little more. It comes across as a very safe album to comeback with and one that leans too much into what has come before. Maybe, if there’s another one on the horizon they might shake things up a little and really let those creative juices flow.

It could be a case of me letting my expectations get the better of me here, but I did expect a little more with Fatal Mistakes. As I said above, I think the old school fans of the band will enjoy it but anyone like myself looking and hoping for something a little different may leave disappointed in the end. The return of Del Amitri is like seeing an old friend that you’ve seen in years however, after a couple of pints you quickly realise that while you’ve moved on and evolved, they’ve stayed very much the same.

by Edward Laing

6 comments

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    • Mark Rowe on 3 June 2021 at 04:57

    This review is incorrect. It’s a brilliant brilliant album.

    1. We’ll agree to disagree but thanks for taking the time to visit Digital Runaway.

    • John Hastings on 3 June 2021 at 15:37

    Did you not hear the album before Fatal Mistakes
    It was a very different and experimental album
    You’ve hardly moved on Texas are turning out the same pap they’ve been doing for years

    1. The review is just my opinion, you don’t have to agree with it. But yes, I’ve head all of Del Amitri’s albums as well as some of Justin Currie’s solo material but not all of the older albums are perfect either.

    • Smashy and Nicey on 3 June 2021 at 18:02

    I am a big Del Amitri fan. I have to agree with Edward. This album is not as strong as their (mostly) excellent output circa 1988 to 2002. The law of diminishing returns? Del Amitri are fantastic. This is a good album. But it’s not as good as ‘Twisted’ or ‘Waking Hours’.

    1. Thank you for the support and thanks for checking out Digital Runaway.

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