From the sound to the lyrics, Stir the Blood is a darker album than what the Bravery have done in the past, which they use to their benefit. On their self-titled first album, the Bravery paired comical lyrics with rock music, and on their second album, The Sun and The Moon, they tried for happier lyrics. Now the Bravery have gotten edgier. Their lyrics mostly express anger, and so does the sound. Sure, it's depressing at times, but that is what makes it so successful. The album is well-suited for a stressful time when you have a full work-load and all you want to do is procrastinate for awhile, by rocking out on a fake guitar while jumping on your bed. The tracks on this album aren't screamy like most anger-inspired music, which helps them appeal to a larger crowd.
The Bravery have a sound similar to the Killers' updated 80s sound. The Bravery's lead singer, Sam Endicott, has a deeper singing voice like Brandon Flowers, lead singer of the Killers, but a little huskier. The instrumental backgrounds of the songs are similar, almost irrecognizable aside from the Bravery's angrier lyrics.
""Hatefuck"" is easily the album's money maker. The lyrics scream ""enraged sexual tension gone wrong."" With lines like, ""If I put my hand around your wrist / would you fight them?,"" and, ""So many things that I would do / if I had my way with you,"" you can't help but wonder where the tension stems from. When Endicott repeats, ""There will be no tenderness, no tenderness,"" it sounds like a fight of adultery that otherwise would be difficult to describe. It's a song that will get stuck in your head during all of the wrong times.
There are only two slow songs on this album, but one would have been enough. While ""She's so Bendable"" works perfectly with slow instrumentals and not-so-deep vocals, ""Sugar Pill"" is a completely different story. The dreamy instrumental background is ruined by Endicott's deep voice, which does not mesh well with the hazy background sounds. ""Sugar Pill"" drones on and on like a monotonous professor you would rather not listen to three days a week. If the Bravery left out this one song, the album would have been all the better.
While the Bravery is similar to the Killers and their lyrics are angrier than most others, Stir the Blood is a step up from their older albums. The angrier edge works best for the Bravery, which helps to create an album worth listening to. It's a short trip back to the '80s, and a definite trip worth taking.
