A new sound for one of Britain's favourite boybands should not work, but surprisingly it does!
Harry, Tom, Dougie and Danny have embarked on a darker and more dangerous side of the pop music they've become famous for. Gone are the beach-side guitar riffs from "Room On The Third Floor" and the heavy metal influenced stylings from "Radio:ACTIVE" to give way to an electronica influenced collection of music to be experienced on this record, "Above The Noise".
It's far from perfect - the album is a mish-mash of epic anthems, fuelled with guitar riffs and belting vocals which strongly contrast with the some-what dull ballads which snooze their way through three of four minutes of the album's playtime.
Winning the crown for the album's top-track is the lead single `Party Girl' - sounding surprisingly like `Bad Romance' at times, it's a fantastic, fist-pumping anthem which is as catching as bird-flu. Second single `Shine A Light' which pointlessly features Taio Cruz is a slow grower, whilst track `If You See Katie' mimics the cheeky stylings of Britney whilst being a truly loveable track.
Opening track `The End Of The World' is a fantastic power-rock anthem and is one of the album's best tracks, whilst `Nowhere Left To Run' is a track which builds up from a soft and delicate track into another brilliant powering anthem.
Aside from those select few- the album is generally a mellow affair of sensual ballads which sometimes border on snooze-worthy, and definitely don't belong on an album titled "Above The Noise". But aside from this, the album is an enjoyable affair, and from the achievements they've made on their awesome tracks, it definitely seems like a direction they should stick to.