Gun – Frantic (2015) Review

After the restorative purpose of Break The Silence, Frantic arrives as a more conflicted chapter in Gun’s second life.

The choruses are still there, and Dante Gizzi delivers a committed performance, but the album often feels more concerned with polish than punch.

It’s not a collapse on the scale of their late-’90s detour — the songwriting is far stronger than 0141 632 6326 — yet the pop-leaning choices and missing guitar fireworks leave the record sounding frustratingly close to repeating old mistakes.

Riding The Wave

Few expected Gun to set the world alight when they returned in 2012, and the news that talismanic frontman Mark Rankin had declined his invitation to the reunion only lowered expectations further.

So when the rejuvenated band — now fronted by former bassist Dante Gizzi — returned with the focused and confident Break The Silence, they raised more than a few eyebrows. The album didn’t trouble the charts in a major way, but it did something arguably more important: it re-established Gun as a credible creative force, helping to earn them high-profile appearances such as Download Festival.

By the time they entered the studio to begin work on the follow-up, anticipation had shifted. Listeners weren’t simply pleased the band were back — they expected Gun to double down on Break The Silence’s strengths and deliver another round of riff-driven rock.

“We have some good songs here that could be played on radio. It definitely also helps when you have a good label behind you who are ready to push and support the band. We saw what Caroline/UMG did with Simple Minds and that convinced us that this partnership could be beneficial.”

– Giuliano Gizzi

One Wrong Turn Too Many

Frantic ultimately can’t live up to the momentum generated by Break The Silence.

Where its predecessor leaned into modern hard rock stylings with purpose, this follow-up drapes much of its material in a softer, more pop-oriented gloss.

It’s easy to understand why that direction might have been tempting — a cleaner, more contemporary sheen can feel like a route toward broader radio acceptance — but the trade-off is costly. By smoothing away the band’s natural bite, Frantic repeatedly prevents its strongest ideas from landing with full force.

Opening track Let It Shine sets the tone: a gospel-choir introduction and a limp guitar hook fail to capitalise on an otherwise strong chorus. The same pattern appears on Labour Of Life, where another uplifting refrain is undermined by a formulaic framework. And when the songwriting doesn’t supply enough lift to overcome the gloss — as on Beautiful Smile — the challenge is simply a slog.

The crunching guitars and pummelling drum drive that once made Gun such a formidable live proposition are often pushed into the background, buried beneath thick layers of backing vocals, horns, and janglier rhythmic textures. The result is a record that too often sounds like Gun restrained rather than Gun revived.

What Still Works

Frantic is at its best when Gun lean back into their strengths.

Attentive fans will recognise Seraphina from the Popkiller EP recorded during the band’s aborted 2009 comeback attempt, but the version presented here is light-years stronger. Dante Gizzi delivers one of his most convincing performances on the album, his raspy vocal weaving confidently through the verses like a snake on a tree branch while — for once — the production allows the guitars to cut through with real intent.

Elsewhere, there are flashes of the band Gun can still be: Big City, an ode to their hometown; the anthemic Hold Your Head Up; the title track’s simple-but-memorable chorus; and single-worthy One Wrong Turn, which stands out for its willingness to address male mental health without resorting to clichés.

These moments prove the band still has it — but they’re too often smothered by gloss and restraint.

Finally, their itch for wider exposure was scratched via a cover of Hot Chocolate’s Every 1’s a Winner, included on the expanded More Frantic edition. The track later gained mainstream visibility through Oscar-winning movie I, Tonya, introducing Gun to listeners beyond their core fanbase.

"I've built up my resistance,
To things a man shouldn't feel."

ONE WRONG TURN

A Near Miss

Frantic isn’t undone by a lack of songwriting ability — if anything, it contains enough catchy material to suggest Gun still had instincts worth trusting.

The problem is that too often those instincts are dulled by a glossy, pop-leaning mix that robs the songs of the punch they need to feel like Gun. Compared to the focused bite of Break The Silence, this follow-up sounds softened at the exact moments it should hit hardest.

What ultimately saves Frantic from becoming a full-blown repeat of the band’s late-’90s detour is the underlying quality of the material. The hooks are there. The choruses land often enough to keep the record afloat. But it’s hard to ignore how close Gun came to drifting into the same mistake again — trading their natural heft for a sheen that doesn’t suit them.

Gun: Frantic

Frantic doesn’t undo the goodwill earned by Break The Silence, but it comes closer than it should.

There’s still quality here — enough to suggest the band had plenty left in the tank — yet the pop-leaning gloss repeatedly holds the material back. Turn the guitars up, let Giuliano’s leads breathe, and several of these tracks could have hit far harder.

As it stands, Frantic is a frustrating near-miss: decent songs, restrained by a production approach that refuses to let them roar.

>> Frantic is part of our Gun album review series.

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