|
 |
| |
| |
|
|
|
| This year is churning out a succession of disappointing albums. |
| |
A few years ago, I was under the impression that Hundred Reasons were one of the great hopes of British alternative music. I heard "Remmus", and was instantly smitten by their jagged, electrifying emo-rock, bolted underneath a unique sense of tunesmithery. Then along came "I'll Find You", a monumental slab of rawk with a hook you could use to reel in a lardy humpback whale, all laid out in glorious sparkly crystal clear sound. Ace.
And then the first album (Ideas Above Our Station) came out, and the general consensus among the anticipating fans was "Oh - right". I hoped they would do better next time.
I admit it, I was ready to be disappointed. After the first few spins, Shatterproof Is Not A Challenge had failed to inspire me, and I prepared myself to reject Hundred Reasons as has-beens and failures. Luckily for them however, I decided to give it a lot more spins than I at first thought it deserved, and although I still wouldn't say it was a blinder, I do think it's an improvement on their first album and needn't be embarrassed to be in any halfway decent CD collection.
Hundred Reasons' main appeal these days is their sense of belief in and enthusiasm for what they are doing, and their ability to communicate that to the listener. Every song is banged out with heaps and heaps of passion, not to mention ability, and this goes some way to making up for their lack of groundbreaking ideas - and in any case, a groundbreaking idea isn't necessarily a good one. A good song, however, is a good one, groundbreaking or not. And thus "What You Get"'s thumping sing-along chorus, "Harmony"'s heartfelt harmonies and "Truth With Elegance"'s light-metal riffing successfully stroll into the average rock fan's affections and sit down for a cup of tea, like old friends. We all like familiarity.
However, although these songs are indeed good songs taken at face value, there is just a little too much familiarity. There is nothing here to suggest that Hundred Reasons have developed over the last couple of years, nor have they produced anything that doesn't appear in one form or another on their debut album, with the result that you needn't really bother buying this one. They seem to have found a formula and stuck with it, to the extent that "Pop" sounds frighteningly like "Silver".
So, I'm not really sure about this album. I like it, but I doubt I'll keep coming back to it, because, well, there's no real reason to. So - 8 out of 10 on the strength of the songs, but 7 out of 10 for the fact that I needn't really have bothered buying this album in the first place. |
| |
| Dan Snowdon - 7/10 |
|
Be the first to comment on this review. |
|
| |
| Reviews | News | Talk | Features | Archive | Myspace | Contact | Voices |
| All original content is copyright of TinyVoices.co.uk 2003 to 2007 |
| |
|
|
|
 |
|
