Strange. I was listening to this at work after a couple of months hiatus and my opinion still has'nt changed. I still prefer the first albums energy and drive. That is not to say it's a bad album, it is merely one of many British Indie albums released last year that did'nt set me on fire. Lyrically it is definitely more accomplished than their debut and it tap's succinctly into British working class mentality regarding it's humour. Brianstorm sets the album up on a false note. We are expecting an all out sonic assault full of the riffage that accompianied the debut. That we never get this detracts from the album and lulls you into a false sense of security. Whether this was intentional, I do not know. What I do know is that if this opener was further down the running order, I would have listened to the album with a completely different mindset.
I compare the first two Arctic albums with those of Oasis. Both arguably came at a time of stagnation in the mainstream U.K music scene. Both debuts blew the cobwebs away with their attitude and their subsequent follow up's, while perfectly listenable and competent, never scale the same heights.
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“A cynic by experience, a romantic by inclination and now a hero by necessity.”
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