Rally Cry is the fifth full-length studio album by Canadian rock band Arkells, released October 19, 2018 on Last Gang Records.[1]
The album was preceded by the politically themed single "People's Champ",[2] and "Relentless" was the second single.[3]
Promotion
The album's concert tour included the band's first major headlining stadium shows, including a kickoff show at Tim Hortons Field in their hometown of Hamilton on June 23, 2018,[3] and a show at the Scotiabank Arena in Toronto on February 16, 2019.[4]
Critical response
Cam Lindsay of Exclaim! rated the album 8 out of 10, writing that "What makes Rally Cry a success, though, is in how Arkells seem to really be going for the big score with creative risks. "Relentless" is built around a sample lifted from Soweto artist Chicco's "Sixolele Babe," whose Afro-pop groove shouldn't really work, but somehow fits into its loud rock framework. "Company Man" is the closest they've come to a Motown or Daptone track of their own, and while it isn't exactly the Dap-Kings, what is?"[5] For Now, Richard Trapunski wrote that "Rally Cry teems with the kind of call-and-response hooks (complete with “whoa-oh” backups), fist-raising slow-build crescendos and precise grooves meant to be screamed to with crowds of people. That kind of gaudy, unself-conscious, 80s-style pop ambition can be a turnoff in many bands, especially in 2018 (see: U2, the Killers, Coldplay), but Arkells do it in a way that makes you root for them like a hometown hockey team."[6]
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