Album: Wall Of Arms
Artist: The Maccabees
Singles: No Kind Words, Love You Better
The Maccabees' first album was good, but it wasn't something that I played over and over again - I thought it wasn't brilliant. This one, however, is.
Love You Better
The first proper single (No Kind Words was a free download) has a guitar riff that leads into Orlando Weeks' deep vocals, and the chorus, consisting solely of the words "I will love you better" just makes me want to sing along.
One Hand Holding
The guitar riff is one of their best, with the chanting of "Ohhh...." during it working perfectly, and again, another chorus that makes you want to sing along: "Why would you kill it, kill it, before it dies?"
Can You Give It?
The bass-driven opening to this song is catchy, as is the song when the drum appears with the guitar. One thing that annoys me with this song is that a handclap mixing in with the drumbeat makes it sound much more powerful, but why let it appear a mere ten seconds before the end? I was expecting the song to go for another round after that, but no. It just ends. Oh well, rant over.
Young Lions
A heartfelt song, but one of the weaker of the album, in my opinion (particularly after three fantastic songs).
Wall Of Arms
The opening bassline reminded me of Doves' song Compulsion, (which is a fantastic song by the way) but this song is the weakest of this album.
No Kind Words
Back onto the awesome songs, then. A very deep and dark sounding song with a powerful opening drumbeat. And then it tags on 30 seconds of a preview of Bag of Bones (last track) - of course I didn't realise that at the time and thought it was a new song, and got a bit annoyed when it closed after just over half a minute.
Dinosaurs
Another great riff and another great song. That's all I have to say on that one.
Kiss And Resolve
I love Orlando's vocals on this song, specifically, "Let's kiss, kiss and resolve, oh.......". Keeping up the awesomeness of this album.
William Powers
"And I'll see you when you're older," sings Orlando on this slower song (but no less brilliant than the past three songs). Then it changes completely into a "Now, now, now, now, that's enough..." which took me by surprise, which is what I like about this song.
Seventeen Hands
Another slow song before the end, despite me thinking it was a good song, it is not distinctly memorable. Still good though.
Bag Of Bones
A beautiful ending, previewed by the end of No Kind Words, where Orlando sings about a "beautiful bag of bones" (Quite how bones can be beautiful, I don't know.) A wonderful five minutes.
Overall, great album. Some songs aren't as good as the rest, but generally better than the first album in every way.
For the record, their previous albums: Colour It In (5/10)
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