The Sunshine Underground's first album made the #1 spot on my best of 2006 list (Although I didn't give any album 10/10 that year). However, at #2 this year is an album that is still several times better than their debut. Every song is instantly memorable and I cannot find fault with it. I would happily listen to any one song on its own, as they are all powerful epic songs that I really enjoy.
Whether it be the funk-tinged In Your Arms, the danceable A Warning Sign (the best on the album), the sad yet huge Any Minute Now or the relatively heavy sound of opener Coming To Save You, the album delivers epics in spades. It is very hard to pick out a least favourite, which is the mark of a good album, but I think I'd go for Here It Comes, as much as I love it. Mainly because it's stuck between Any Minute Now and One By One, two of the biggest-sounding songs on the album, but it's just a tiny fraction less enjoyable than the rest of the album.
But what really gets me on this album is the closing track, The Messiah. It is absolutely stunning, the best closing track to an album I have heard this year. The instruments weave their way around each other and then explode into something massive at the end. I had chills listening to it (and for the other songs, too, but not as much as this one).
There was one album that I liked more than this one, but honestly, this could have been #1. The Sunshine Underground are definitely one of the greatest bands in existence. Just a shame not as many people know of them.
SCORE
Previous albums: Raise The Alarm (9/10)
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