Archive for November 22nd, 2008

Posted on November 22, 2008 - by Jon

Snow Patrol - A Hundred Million Suns Review

Say what you want about Irish rockers Snow Patrol but they definitely know how to appeal to listeners.  While they are never ground breaking they are always consistent.   They are unequivocally an arena rock band and aren’t scared to show it.  They are basically the Irish version of Coldplay without the pianos and without the world wide acclaim (I do say this lightly as their last album Eyes Open did go platinum) and they don’t make their own costumes.  Frankly, they write songs for mass appeal and they excel at it.

Snow Patrol - A Hundred Million Suns

Songs such as “Take Back the City”, “Please Just Take These Photos from Me”, and “Crack the Shutters” rest on power rock choruses that have instant appeal and beg the listener to sing along.  While ballads such as “Set Down Your Glass” and “The Planets Bend Between Us” (a more sophisticated and evolved version of “Chasing Cars” from Eyes Open) show a sincerity that defeats all notions of cheesiness.  The only deviation from their successful formula is the 16 minute melody “Lighting Strike” which combines three distinct parts into one epic arena rock track.  If you can sit through the whole thing I’d recommend it.

Lyrically, there are a few minor hiccups as Gary Lightbody sings lyrics such as “cool your beans my son, you look a fucking mess” and “hit that button there, the one that just says wrong” from the track “Disaster Button” as they sound forced.  However, I doubt that listeners will pay much attention to these minor flaws.

I have to admit that it’s disappointing that Snow Patrol’s most popular song is “Chasing Cars” which gained massive publicity for the band after airing on the season finale of Grey’s Anatomy.  They clearly have better songs in their catalogue and the casual listener should take more time to explore it.

While Snow Patrol may never be Coldplay it seems that they’d be fine taking second place to them.  A Hundred Million Suns is easy to listen to and easy to digest and if you’re looking for a solid and sincere rock record then this is it.

Rating: 8 / 10

Notable Tracks:  Take Back the City, Lighting Strike, The Planets Bend Between Us

For Fans of:  Coldplay, Travis, Stereophonics

Release Date: October 28th 2008

Posted on November 22, 2008 - by Jon

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