It’s been hard to avoid this young Cardiff based band in recent months regardless of whether or not you like them. Most notably has been the fact that everywhere you go, someone seems to be singing along to ‘Monster’, usually changing the theme of the song. Just yesterday in fact there was a young lad that looked about 11 or 12, and as someone approached he sang ‘What’s that coming over the hill, is it a homosexual?’ Not the best fitting word change I’ve heard, but still – it seemed to impress his mates. It is clear that this track is getting stuck in the heads of people both young and old, and all I can say about the album is; there’s more of that where that came from, with the album jam packed full of catchy tracks where any of the twelve tracks on the display here could easily be released as a single.
The album kicks off with the fiery ‘That’s What She Said’, with the band quickly getting into their stride and showing what they are capable of. From here we begin to move through a few familiar tracks such as ‘Raoul’, ‘Recover’, and the aforementioned ‘Monster’ which have all been released as singles. I have a feeling that ‘Recover’ may be re-released at some stage, much like label mates Kaiser Chiefs did with ‘Oh My God’, as it is probably one of the strongest, if not the strongest track on the album, however when it was first released the band did not have the notoriety that they currently have. It would make sense to re-release this single as I’m sure it would do well, however whether it will be or not is yet to be seen.
The band makes their thoughts known about the current state of commercial music in this album, stating on catchy track ‘You Shout You Shout You Shout You Shout’ that there is ‘so much trash on the radio today.’ In this one they also make reference to the Panic! At The Disco album ‘A Fever You Can’t Sweat Out’, and in many respects it can be seen that the band are much like them in that they are also having great success with an extremely catchy debut album. Another thing these bands have in common is that they are both synth heavy, and it can be seen that this is definitely the sound of 2006; to forefront a synth in your music. Some may argue that the band have been handed it all on a plate, however I’m sure that the band would disagree with this and argue that they’ve worked hard for what they have achieved.
There are many great tracks on this album, aside from the obvious single releases, and the aforementioned ‘You Shout You Shout You Shout You Shout’, other tracks that automatically spring to mind are ‘Seriously…I Hate You Guys’, ‘Team Drama’, and epic album closer ‘Rats’. What is most notable about this band is that there isn’t a single track on this album that doesn’t have an astonishing chorus. I feel that the choruses are often the driving point of this band, with the immaculate vocal styling of Rob coupling with the screams of keyboardist Pennie providing a perfect contrast and working brilliantly throughout the album. The band are extremely catchy, with the synths, screams, and lead vocals creating a perfect blend when placed alongside the booming bass lines, fiery guitar riffs, and powerful drum beats.
The Automatic are not always instant, for instance the first few times I heard ‘Raoul’ I really didn’t see what anyone saw in it, however with repeated listens it really began to grow on me and became one of my most heavily played songs for a while. Once you get used to the bands quirky style, which can range from disco-punk to Indie, and then onto pop-punk seemingly at the flick of a switch with flashes of Screamo added into the mix every so often, you really begin to enjoy their music and admire ‘Not Accepted Anywhere’ for the range of genres it manages to cover in its 40 minutes. It is clear that The Automatic have varied influences, ranging from the likes of At The Drive-In and Refused, to Radiohead and Blur.
‘Not Accepted Anywhere’ entered the official UK album charts at number 3, a testament to the bands current popularity. They prove to me with this album that they deserve all the success that they are achieving at the moment as it is a great album especially with it being their debut. It is not often that a band releases such an exciting debut, and when their young age is taken into account, with the fact that they are still quintessentially still teenagers, this achievement just seems even greater. I feel that with age this is a band that we will see blossom, releasing a number of albums in the process – hopefully they wont just be another flash in the pan throwaway rock band that we see so many of in this day and age.
Released: 19th June 2006
Label: B-Unique
Rating:
UK based film graduate with a huge passion for music, sports and video games.
