The Others - When In Doubt
Cult 00s heroes The Others return this Friday with their sixth studio album ‘When in Doubt’. The album will be released for free on their Bandcamp page.
It follows 2025’s ‘Difficulties Understanding’ an album unfairly overlooked but, for good cause, as the celebrations of their debut album were too tempting for all. As the band prepare to celebrate 2006’s ‘Inward Parts’ this March, will ‘When In Doubt’ also fall into the shadows?
Leading the charge out of the shadows are ‘Met You In Bar’, ‘Never Thought It Would Be So Difficult’, and ‘The Battle of Menotomy’, which act as a perfect bridge from those first two records to The Others’ new realm. Lead single ‘Met You In Bar’ fires up their Buzzcocks guitars alongside new mod-inspired organs. The dreamlike machinations hinted at when they expanded to an eight-piece are now fully realised. ‘Never Thought It Would Be So Difficult’ witnesses frontman Dominic Masters rail against the pressures of modern life on the bread line, invoking ‘This Is For the Poor’. Alongside this come keys steeped in The Stranglers glory days and a chorus worthy of a Spector girl-group. On The Battle of Menotomy, the volatility of their early work is given a brutish injection of Sonic Youth’s power, whilst Masters unleashes a heavy narrative of drink, drugs, and excess. Master’s delivery is marked by great character and drama; it allows images of Terry, the law-abiding man from The Streets’ debut, to flood the senses.
The flourish of their past, while triumphant, is fleeting. The Others are a band with bigger horizons now. ‘Stagger To Your Feet’ unfurls itself as though Goldfrapp and The Membranes have formed a supergroup. Deranged synths groove waywardly as Masters leans into yet more tales of debauchery. ‘Who I Was’ ignites the dirge-rock power of The Stooges and Sonic Youth’s guitars before Tears For Fears and angelic licks melt away the past tortures that Masters is laying bare. ‘I Don’t Mind’ sees the band transcend music and become an untamed animal. The dystopian landscapes of Joy Division collide with the brutality of Husker Du and Sonic Youth, yet their archetypal empathy loiters throughout. It gives the darkest moments hope, as though the shit we’re all wading through in 2026 will be over soon.
There is a therapeutic nature to this record. An openness and a calmness oozing from the new influences on show. It’s an album that can only stem from lived experience, from pained self-reflection and coming through, scarred but not beaten. What is truly uplifting about The Others is that, six albums in, they’re getting better, while most fade and die. ‘Don’t Have To Be Alone’, a sumptuous Orange Juice-esque record, offers their poppiest sound to date. No one from their stage diving crew, the 853 Kamikaze Division, would have imagined this when Inwards Parts was released. All should rejoice; it did.