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Product Description
Review
Sympathy is due, in some measure, to The Automatic. A spunky first album with a single that became inescapable in 2006 – Not Accepted Anywhere and Monster, respectively – was followed by a realisation of their promise to get ‘harder’ on second album This Is a Fix – an underrated sophomore effort which received little promotion compared to its predecessor.
Having set up their own label for the release of Tear the Signs Down, the impression here is of a band that, perhaps understandably, has lost a degree of faith in their own musical decisions after falling out with their previous paymasters. Choosing to go it alone is brave, but with such extra pressure on the shoulders of these musicians, workloads increased by necessity, it’s a sad inevitability that the music has suffered.
Any expectations of a continuation of the angular prickliness of This Is a Fix are smothered instantly by the immediate shortcomings of these songs. Where The Automatic once achieved a sound entirely of their own – whether you loved or loathed it – here they combine hackneyed Kaiser Chiefs-style harmonies with chug-along guitar riffs, and all the sharpness of past endeavours has been transformed into a kind of unpalatable sonic gristle.
What obliterates any lingering affection for the group isn’t the anaemic plod of lead single Interstate or the numbingly predictable rock-band-gets-grand-ideas string section outro to List. It’s more the notion that we’re listening to a band that have chosen to ignore their natural leftfield musical sensibilities in order to grope for a commercial audience again.
It’s all too little, too late by the time album highlight, the impressively frenetic (and far too short) Something Else, kicks in. One is left feeling angry, more than anything else, because it’s clear that The Automatic have the ability to create winningly bellicose rock. But Tear the Signs Down sounds cynically diluted, an effort to break the charts rather than a statement of singular, ambitious intent. It’s early days yet, but this could well be one of the most disappointing albums of 2010. --Rob Crossan
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Customer Reviews
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
7 of 7 people found the following review helpful
Format:Audio CD
This album showcases a coming of age of a band who could have very easily have been stuck with being known as the 'Monster' band just as Electric Six (who?) are still stuck with the 'Gay Bar' band. But Automatic never were a one song band, they have shown since the first album what they are capable of and have just gone from strength to strength since then. 2nd album saw them shake off the Gimmick of the shouty Pennie and grow their sound with the addition of ex Yourcodenameis:milo frontman Paul Mullen after a collaboration on 'Print is dead volume 1. He adds another dimension to the bands sound, giving them a larger heavier sound with some amazing vocals. This album mixes a bigger sound with some amazing hooks and vocals, a few slightly poppier songs, but no where in the vein of the first album, I almost feel a biffy clyro coming on in these guys, maybe one more album before these guys jump up a notch back to where they belong on the big stage, until then they will carry on selling out club tours with ease and not because they were the band that created 'Monster'
This album is most certainly a grower, which is the best type!! The singles interstate and run and hide are amazing and just get better with every listen. 'Something Else' may be my standout from this album, pure energy and a similar level of rawk to my favourite song 'This Is A Fix' on the last album.
Thanks guys, stick around for more!!!
This album is most certainly a grower, which is the best type!! The singles interstate and run and hide are amazing and just get better with every listen. 'Something Else' may be my standout from this album, pure energy and a similar level of rawk to my favourite song 'This Is A Fix' on the last album.
Thanks guys, stick around for more!!!
3 of 3 people found the following review helpful
Format:Audio CD
Moves on from This is a Fix with a slightly heavier sound that catches their energetic live sound.
Buy it now.
Buy it now.
2 of 2 people found the following review helpful
Format:Audio CD
I feel compelled to spread the word that this really is a great CD. I've got all three Automatic CD's and I think each one shows a progression in songwriting and musicianship. I really enjoyed This is a Fix - it ticks all the boxes for me. Great guitars, great vocals, good singalong choruses, up tempo and relatively noisy! Lyrically, I don't really know what any of their songs are about, but that really doesn't bother me! The lyrics are just a vehicle to deliver great music performed really well. It probably didn't sell that well, so this is the bands attempt to crack the mainstream again. I seem to remember seeing quotes from the band that this cd is more like the first. In truth, its still unmistakeably their sound, but maybe not quite so "heavy" as TIAF. I really like some of the unusual timings they employ in some tracks on this CD. Highlights for me are Insides, Interstate, Sweat Heat and Noise, Race to the Heart of the Sun and Tear it Down. I think those tracks are right up there with anything I've listened to in the last year or so and tick all the boxes for me for catchy, singalong, up tempo guitar pop/rock. I really hope this one sells well enough for them to carry on and produce more music...I think they are a great little band with their own sound producing consistently good music and evolving very nicely!
Most Recent Customer Reviews
A massive jump away from Monster
I expected a couple of catchy sing-alongs like Steve McQueen from the last album, but this really is a musical exploration and a complete departure from the style of a few years... Read more
Published 1 month ago by lasthopeofhumanity
thoroughly surprised
I was soooo into these guys when they came out with Monster and Raoul back in the day, but for some reason I didn't get into This is a Fix, could of been of what I listening to at... Read more
Published 8 months ago by Jennie Kwan
tear down the signs
Recently saw The Automatic live and liked the new songs they played from this album but when played at home it doesn't catch me like I expected it to. Read more
Published on 1 May 2010 by Ms. Patricia A. Ruddell
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