Battleground [Enhanced, Import]

The debut album from The Wanted came as an unexpected pleasure to many people, and brought the boys great success in a market where, I would have said, there wasn't much room for another boyband. But their unusual and quirky voices made them stand out in the crowd, with their more rugged image and their ability to release brilliant pop music. It was this that got them where they are, and this which makes this, album number two "Battlefield", a success.

There are, as to be expected in any modern boyband album, flaws; and perhaps one too-many ballads. But for the most part, their interesting vocals rescue the songs from being utter bores. Take the two songs `I'll Be Your Strength' and `I Want It All' - both are very basic, safely played, tender, stripped back ballads. On any other boyband album I would snooze my way through- but the rough vocals and strong harmonies shine through against the simple backdrop of piano- and guitar riffs, which actually makes them two of the best songs on the album. Meanwhile I cannot award `Warzone' the same praise, which slumps into the albums playlist weakly and meanders back out forgotten as a standard, dull ballad. But taking the trump card in the ballad category is the absolutely excellent "Last To Know", laced with a dirty drum beat, wicked vocals and brilliant melodies - it reminds me a boyish, more modern version of Girls Aloud's `Life Got Cold' - in the sense it redefines the expectations of a down-tempo number and sounds fresh and interesting as a result.

Sadly, there are only a handful of uptempo/big tracks on this album; along with lead singles `Glad You Came' and `Lightening' - both of which are excellent and two of the best on the album - there is the great `The Weekend' which won't be winning awards for `lyrics of the year' but is a synth-blasting dance-pop piece of epicness. But the crown for the most AMAZING track on the album goes to `Invincible': it's a brilliant piece of work - soft verses with big choruses and ecstatic instrumental parts - the boys' voices are outstanding on this song, and it's impossible not to dance around to this song.

"Battleground", surprisingly, is much more listenable that many parts of their debut, and shows great promise for The Wanted, who move through the British music scene with an excellent identity through their different music style and the characteristics of their vocals. A great follow up, and offers promise for future excellence.

I was very surprised when I first heard The Wanted's debut album, full of eclectic sounds and clever lyrics the album was a smash hit, they had something different and werent just doing generic boyband trash, this album seem's like an extention of that but also seem's like a step back, the single's they released have seemed more like the generic trash that other bands have been doing, having said that they're very catchy and have great instrumentals, another problem I have is that a lot of lead vocals are given to the weaker singers in the band, which seem's a bit odd when there are stronger singers in the band, one thing they do very well is put in rather sexualised lyrics, no doubt used to entice the younger generation into a sexual frenzy to be more inclined to buy the music, but they do it well so I cant complain, i'll run through each track on the deluxe version to give more of an overview of the album:

Track one - Glad You Came, a great dancey song with good vocals and was a number one hit, most people will have heard this song by now, 9/10.

Track two - Lightning, another dancey song with a nice build up to the chorus, not as good as Glad You Came but still very good, 8/10.

Track three - Warzone, a cool ballad with interesting sounding dubstep elements that make it seem quite unique, 9/10.

Track four - Invincible, quite a haunting dance song with creepy vocals, the vocals are interesting and it has a very interesting backing track, 9/10.

Track five - Last To Know, a rock-ish power ballad with cool grungy sounds, and a very catchy chorus, also showcases vocals quite well, 8/10.

Track six - I'll Be Your Strength, this is my favourite off the album, a nice ballad that slowly develops into a full on dance track! Great vocals and delivers a good message about love, 10/10.

Track seven - Rocket, a very intersting mid-tempo with great lyrics and an interesting beat, 9/10.

Track eight - I Want It All, not my favourite on the album, but only because I dont enjoy guitar ballads, other than that its a nice song but again, its not what I enjoy in music, 5/10.

Track nine - The Weekend, kind of a generic, trashy club-ish track, again not my favourite, sounds like something JLS would do, very synthy though, 6/10.

Track ten - Lie To Me, a pop/rock ballad about heartbreak, not great in my opinion, sounds like a Take That demo, 4/10.

Track eleven - Gold Forever, 2011's comic relief track, has a nice build up to some smashing synthy instrumental and delivers a nice vocal, 8/10.

Track twelve - Dagger, a really nice mid-tempo ballad about heartbreak - again, but its still a nice feel good song, 7/10.

Track thirteen - Rock Your Body, some cheesy lyrics but a nice dancey song with great orchestral backing, 7/10.

Track fourteen - Turn It Off, a kind of disco-club track, its good but it doesnt really suit them, they're trying to be to sexy and it doesnt suit them, 7/10.

Track fifteen - Where I Belong, a quite epic piano dance ballad, the song is great, but the main problem with this is that Siva sings the entire song by himself, but he is by far the weakest singer and its kind of cringey listening to his voice for an entire 4 minutes, the whole point of a band is that the other members are there to pick up the slack for the weaker singers, but it doesnt translate in this one, 8/10.

Overall the album is very good, The Wanted havent found their sound yet or that particular genre that makes them sound great, the songs are good, but there is such a mixture its hard to tell whether they're being marketed as a dance group, a pop group or an indie group etc.
Overall I give the album 8/10, The Wanted are definitely the best boyband around at the moment, no where near as generic as JLS and not as cringey as One Direction.

The Wanted's debut album was great and very memorable, they now return with Battleground! The album is more or less the same as their debut album and contains many catchy songs which make you fall in love with them during your first listen. The album starts off with their single 'Glad You Came', the song the summer, and then continues with 'Lighting', an upbeat song that stays stuck in you head (in a good way). The rest of the album consists of pop and ballad songs. I personally love 'Warzone', 'Rocket' and 'I Want It All', three great amazing ballads with great vocals. An all round astonishing album!

What I like about The Wanted is that they share their vocals considerably so you get to hear everyone's voice, which is rare in a 5 piece boy band. All the songs on the album are worth listening to and the album grows on you every time you listen to it. I've listened to the album three times already and every time I hear it I love it even more. This album is not to be missed!!