Glorious
This is just another one of those albums that you shouldn't judge by the cover. You look at the band name; you feel indifference. You look at the album title; you feel a similar indifference. You take in the whole presentation and you feel once again indifference. Though, if you get as far as convincing yourself to listen to it, you'll find appearances can be somewhat deceiving.
This bands sound are like David Gray meets Paolo Nutini, toss in a pinch of Noel Gallagher. "Trebuchet" is an impressive start to this album. It's one of those tracks that strikes you and makes you sit up abruptly and pay more attention. It reeks of Paolo Nutini, with a really strong melodic line, fairly mainstream.
"Done and Dusted" is very much the kind of song you would expect from David Gray. Very predictable but the kind of song you don't mind to listen to...it has a certain pleasantness to it. "Parting Shot" maintains that very popular sound that the previous two tracks have; kind of like Interpol meets The Enemy. "The Chain" is yet another track dripping with that raw popular sound. The vocals are very meaningful and the chorus is immense. "Russian Dolls" is a really special track, it stands out from the rest of the track-list, and its entire mannerism is incredible. It's different from the rest of the songs you'll hear in the album, it has something special that you can't quite pinpoint.
"Prism" is tedious boredom musicified (is that a word?). Everything about it spells sheer boredom. "Rescue Us" redeems the bands efforts somewhat, it brings us back to that popular, pleasant sound that we heard in the earlier part of the album. The rest of the album is rather quite forgettable, there's nothing necessarily special about any of the final tracks.
Which brings us to the end of what is a pleasant surprise of an album. It's likely to be one of your guilty pleasure albums of 2007.