Frank Carter & The Rattlesnakes: End of Suffering review – Ed Sheeran’s evil twin suffers identity crisis

If you have followed the UK hardcore punk scene in any meaningful way over the past decade, you'll probably already know Frank Carter. A bit like Ed Sheeran's evil twin, the tattooed ginger musician came to prominence as the full-throated screamer of hardcore band Gallows, later fronting the softer-edged Pure Love and, since 2015, balancing the scales between both styles with the Rattlesnakes.

Their third album continues to struggle with forging a unique identity. At its best, End of Suffering is heavily in debt to Queens of the Stone Age and Arctic Monkeys’ AM album, particularly the sultry, lip-sneering attitude of Tyrant Lizard King and the pacy, enjoyable Crowbar.

At worst, songs like Kitty Sucker and Love Games sound like Kasabian cast-offs. Carter’s lyric sheet often proves lazy, too, resorting to cliche (“This is where I lose it all/Don’t catch me when I fall”), even rhyming “depressed” with “stressed”, “blessed” and “unimpressed” on Anxiety.

There are moments of vulnerability clumsily shoehorned betwixt the bombast and swagger expected of any rock album, but overall it feels like more like a squandered opportunity.