A few weeks ago I received The Maccabees new single which was good enough for me to play on our radio show, and look forward to the new album due in May. WALL OF SOUND arrived a couple fo days ago and I can report that the quality of that single was indeed an accurate foretaste of what was to come. This could be one of the best British band albums of the year.

A month ago on the Shake radio session here in Wrexham I played three tracks from bands whom I felt were some of the most influential in the last ten years. Included was Arcade Fire. I mention this because The Maccabees have been obviously influenced by the band on WALL OF SOUND, although this was not so noticeable on the single. I welcome it and anyone who likes/loves Arcade Fire will find much to love about this album.

‘Love You Better’ quickly confirms the influence in more ways than one. The vocal, the instrumentation, the sound are all (wonderfully) remiscent. The Orlando Weeks vocal is tremendous while the melody opens the door open wide and then one is taken on an epic pop-rock ride, the likes of which I have not heard from a British band in years. ‘One Hand Holding’ while perhaps not quite living up to the rest of the album is still good and lyrically is one of the strongest here (”Why would you kill it before it dies…”). ‘Can You Give It’ opens with a nice bass vibe as it starts to bound along with miltary drum rhythm and a thoughtful vocal. The song builds beautifully with incendiery choruses, some gorgeous extended guitar riffs and another superb melody. ‘Young Lions’ opens in contemplative style with slowly winding guitar and keyboard notes before the excellent vocal weighs in with a peformance that covers a huge range. ‘Wall Of Sound’ is one of the most inventive songs here in the way it encompasses beautiful pop-rock ballad, jazz and guitar rock. ‘No KInds Of Words’ is another adventurous, darker beauty with interesting backing vocals, another set of great lyrics (”If you’ve go kind words to say you should say nothing at all…”) and another powerhouse melody.

‘Dinosaurs’ features another expressive vocal from Weeks and one of the best instrumental arrangements here. With ‘Kiss And Resolve’ that military and unrelenting drum rhythm returns as the song races along, pauses for breath and then rushes on again in epic style. Superb. ‘William Powers’ follows a similar formula with deft changes in pace while the heftier moments are rockier. Highly original and one of several album highlights. ‘Seventeen Hands’ has an intriguing opening with electronics coming into play, while the song again offers up superb changes of pace, vocal maneovering and an inventive overall sound. Finally ‘Bags Of Bones’ ambles along with an extended, lovely instrumental passage that leads on to a distant solo and angelic backing vocals. It’s very different and its lyrics lead me to believe that in essence this is a concept style of record.

I can’t praise this album too highly. In utilising a major and important musical inluence, injecting some highly original touches and writing some of the best songs I’ve heard from a British band this year, the guys have created something quite special and very accessible. There will be some that criticise the obvious reference to Arcade Fire but they forget that most artists are influenced by other music and musicians. For a pop-rock album this remains the British leader in 2009.

4.5/5