Album Review: Snow Patrol - A Hundred Million Suns (3/5)

Following up a highly successful album is tough. Too many times it seems artists fall prey to trying to repeat that success--delivering a follow-up that while melded in the vein of the previous album, falls well short of its grandeur.

That, in a nutshell, is my assessment of Snow Patrol's fifth album, A Hundred Million Suns. Their last, Eyes Open, was a major success, becoming the UK's biggest-selling album of 2006 and giving them the massive international hit "Chasing Cars." I thought Eyes Open was brilliant when I reviewed it 2 years ago. I noted how distinctive the songs were, a step forward from Final Straw which suffered from too much of the same thing. Now this album finds the band stalled firmly in their tracks trying too hard to remake Eyes Open.

The album begins with "If There's a Rocket Tie Me to It," which opens with quietly building layers of instruments, is then punctuated by guitar and vocals for the first verse, and finally goes full tilt rock for the chorus. Snow Patrol isn't the first and certainly not the last band to open an album with something carved from U2 marble. It's a good song, but they've been here before with "You're All I Have" which was better (and rocked harder).

Piano-backed ballad "Crack the Shutters" follows. It starts quietly and then pounds those ivory chords along with strings, guitar, synths, and glockenspiel. It's all not unlike "Chasing Cars," but as uplifting as it tries to be, can't recreate that song's emotional punch. These are good songs, and if Eyes Open didn't exist, I might really like them, but I'm too distracted by what seems like an obvious attempt to repeat themselves. Then there's "Take Back the City," an upbeat track that is quite repetitive, although that works well for the band. This was the album's first single--a great choice, as it's probably the best song on the album.

After that, there's not much else on this album that really grabs me. "Lifeboats" is mellow--mostly guitar with space-like synths (outer space being a theme here). Actually, it's kind of dull to be honest. Somber "The Golden Floor" has a hand clap beat and acoustic guitars. If you feel a nap coming on, "Please Just Take These Photos from My Hands," shows up to revive you. This is another track in the stadium guitar rock vein underpinned with some '80s-style synthesizers a la The Killers. In other words, it's a lot like Eyes Open's "It's Beginning to Get Me."

Then there's "Set Down Your Glass," another weepy guitar ballad that starts with the lyric "just close your eyes." "The Planets Bend Between Us" is very mellow and plodding. "Engines" has a nice melody, but is marred by an annoyingly repetitive guitar loop with too much feedback. I've read that the band said this album would be more upbeat than their previous works, but clearly that direction was ditched in favor of even more ballads.

I wouldn't blame you for wanting to tune out at this point, but hang in there, because the end of the album is actually pretty decent. "Disaster Button" is the only saving grace of the second half of the album. Finally a rocking moment from the band! It's a got a great groove, an assertive synth bassline, layered guitars, and its short enough to not wear out its welcome. "The Lightning Strike" is the final track--a 16-minute 3-part song. First there's "What If This Storm Ends?," a dark and dramatic mix of piano, horns and percussion. It's followed by "Sunlight Through the Flags'" lighter mix of multiple pianos. The final part, uplifting "Daybreak," is an effective ending to this epic track.

To sum up, this album has a few good tracks as it opens and ends, but in general has too many dull ballads, too much repetition and too few songs of distinction. As I wrote this review I listened to snippets of Eyes Open to refresh my memory, which in general made me wish I was listening to that instead of this bland imitation. That album was more varied, rocked harder, and soared higher. It's a shame to see such a blessing turn into a curse.

Best: Take Back the City, If There's a Rocket Tie Me to It, Disaster Button, The Lightning Strike