Marmozet's CO.WAR.DICE is Their Best Album Yet
By Bailey Ewers-Smith
****1/2
11 Songs
42 Minutes
CO.WAR.DICE (2026) album cover
Label: The Nettwerk Music Group
Genre: Heavy rock
Band members: Becca Bottomley; Jack Bottomley; Josh MacIntyre; Sam MacIntrye
Produced by: Jonathan Gilmore
Marked by the release of last year's single 'A Kiss from A Mother', 2010s rock icons Marmozets have made a comeback. Eight years on from their 2018 LP, Knowing What You Know Now, the West Yorkshire group are on the cycle for their third album: the weirdly, wonderfully named CO.WAR.DICE. Back then, despite being pretty good in its own right, as well as giving Marmozets their second Top 40 album, Knowing What You Know Now unfortunately didn't match up to the high bar set by their widely acclaimed debut, The Weird and Wonderful Marmozets -- but it's a different story for CO.WAR.DICE.
There isn't a better example than the song that kickstarted this new era in the first place. 'A Kiss from A Mother' is fucking amazing. As a lot of great lead singles do, it serves as a brilliant centrepiece for this new album. It kickstarts the record with slow guitar strums, and melodic whistling, in a style that wouldn't feel out of place in a Western film. It's followed by the bangs of a drum kit that gradually increase in pace. As things get more intense, you wonder what it's gonna lead to. And then... bang. A beautifully intense guitar riff storms in, saying this is my house now, and away we go. The song does such a wonderful job at perking your ears up and grabbing your attention. The riff transitions are so good it gives you goosebumps the first time you listen to it. Then we hear the first (fitting) lyric from lead singer Becca Bottomley: attention! This intro, to me, is how you start a bloody album.
Following this, the track draws you into its beautiful intensity. Bottomley's fantastic vocals, and the powerful feminine energy that comes with them, work so well with the song's spectacular production. They don't get lost at all in the heavy chaos around them. Ultimately, 'A Kiss from A Mother' is a masterful approach to a comeback track. Situated right at the front door of the record, to say Marmozets are back, bitch!
Becca Bottomley, Sam MacIntyre, Jack Bottomley, and Josh MacIntyre of Marmozets. Photo by Richard Mukuze.
The high-quality singles from CO.WAR.DICE don't stop there. 'New York' is a wonderful second track -- like a cute hat that complements an already showstopping outfit, or slices from a big apple on top a bowl of tasty Weetabix. Then right after this, the band managed to give us another outstanding single. Most artists are lucky to have even two top-tier singles on one LP, but we witness this rare sight unfold thanks to 'Cut Back.' Both 'New York' and 'Cut Back' bring their own awesome, albeit slightly tamer, heavy rock plates to the table. Doing so gives us so much brilliance in just the first three opening tracks.
Sadly though, this leads us onto one of the key drawbacks of CO.WAR.DICE. The start of this album can easily be adored by any fan of not only Marmozets, but just the heavy rock genre in general. Tracks one, two, and three are absolute bangers, and when you add track five, 'Running With The Sun In Your Eyes,' into the mix, you are riding an incredible high at around the halfway point. However, there are some aspects of CO.WAR.DICE that lack a little bit of fire power. Here's the thing: even some of the best, five out of five records are not consistently great from beginning to end. Some will have one half that is much stronger than the other. But that weaker half will still hold its own. It will still bring enough to give it that five stars and keep you at a high.
There are songs in the second half of CO.WAR.DICE that are really good. Deep tracks 'Mes Désirs' and 'Like Last Night' (the best of the non-singles, by a country mile) are key examples. Album three's denouement wraps up the journey nicely, with a seven-minute epic that feels like the conclusion to a Sam Fender album -- a great take that doesn't drag like many songs of that length can. When you zoom out and compare the two halves, the magic of the album is a little too weighted on one side, and CO.WAR.DICE gives you most of its best bits too early.
Photo by Richard Mukuze
'You Want The Truth,' is a weaker single, and the sixth track, 'Dandy,' is a ballad that shows that this wasn't a one-off misstep. The other tracks on the record are left to pick up the slack. But this doesn't take away how amazing this album is. Marmozets know how to make a comeback, and particularly how to introduce an album. This four-piece are bloody wizards at making singles.
At the bare minimum, most of CO.WAR.DICE is very, very good. But what makes it brilliant is that its high points are very, very high. All mixed altogether, something really special has been produced here. So, the final question: how does it compare to the debut? I said what I said in the intro for a reason: The Weird and Wonderful Marmozets was incredible, but it doesn't hold a candle to what the band have created with their latest work, CO.WAR.DICE.
Bailey Ewers-Smith (he/they) is a podcaster and women/LGBTQ+-focused independent gig promoter.
Since 2022, they have hosted Joining Me Today, an audiovisual podcast. They have interviewed a wide variety of guests from the music industry, including Frank Turner, HotWax, TJ Smith, and IWABO's Mike Martin.
He founded his own gig promotion brand, JMT Live, dedicated to celebrating female and LGBTQ+ artists. Their first show was last November, headlined by Marshall Records signees Autumn Fires.
You can follow them on Instagram: @joiningmetodaypod
You can also subscribe to them on YouTube: @JoiningMeTodayPodcast