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The Maccabees - Marks To Prove It

The Maccabees - Marks To Prove It

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

  

 

Whoever said that second albums were hard obviously hadn’t gotten to their third or even fourth, as The Maccabees finally unleash their very long awaited fourth record Marks To Prove It. Opening with the upbeat title track, it sees them harking back to the urgency and wonderful intensity of their debut Colour It In, a much welcomed return to form if you ask us.

However, this blast of unbridled urgency is short-lived as they settle into the record, it’s a much more subtle affair like the previous album Given To The Wild. That said there are blasts of excitement that appear sporadically amongst the more atmospheric all encompassing soundscapes that have now become synonymous with the band.

This is immediately evident in beautiful tracks like 'Spit It Out', that build so gracefully before erupting into a crescendo of vibrant sound. The fleeting urgency of Orlando’s vocals coupled with the melee of guitars, shows the progression of the band from their raucous early days. There’s a great deal more control whilst still knowing when to unleash their anger, as the band chant “what are we doing now.”

'River Song' sees the band take an unexpected direction, with a flurries of brass to break up Orlando’s lyrics in all a much more orchestral affair again calling upon their more atmospheric sound. Yet this track possesses a lot more depth, the dense layers of instrumentation combining to form this wonderful cacophony of intense sound its unlike anything they’ve done before.

Their vibrant outbursts continue with current single 'Something Like Happiness', again more controlled but still possesses the excitement of their earliest material. As they close out this erratic record though, they return to the familiar atmospheric territory with the calming tones of Pioneering Systems that is once again filled with a myriad of incredibly well orchestrated instruments.

As they close out with the equally dreamy 'Dawn Chorus', as it provides the perfect culmination to a wonderful album. It provides snapshots of The Maccabees from across their previous output, as well as seeing them entering new ground with phenomenal orchestrations featuring with unequivocally dense layers of instrumentation. 

Whilst we still may reminisce of the good old days of seeing them tearing through tracks on a knife-edge, at tiny shows packed to the rafters. Marks To Prove It shows a band who bare all of the aforementioned marks but they’ve grown from it and this album is proof that they’re certainly one of the best bands around.

Marks To Prove It is available from amazon and iTunes.

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