Album Review

Hundred Reasons were pretty miffed when after charting at No.6 in the UK album chart, selling over 118,000 copies of their debut album Ideas Above Our Station and with good sales for their second album Shatterproof Is Not A Challenge, the band were then unceremoniously dumped by Sony BMG. Since then, despite touring for what seems their every waking second, the albums sales have remained low and it would appear that the band have been plagued with a series of unfortunate events with everything from a friends tragic death to health scares and the unceremonious departure of one of the bands founding members Paul Townsend, who left the band during the summer of 2006.

Hoping to re-ignite the bands initial success latest album Quick The Word, Sharp The Action marks a new creative surge in the bands makeup with the addition of Ben Doyle to the band to join the now finally tuned production, engineering and mixing skills of guitarist Larry Hibbitt. The album reveals a marked change to the bands usual blend of classic rock anthems giving up an altogether far darker affair ravaged by emotionally charged lyrics and heart breaking melodies. The addition of Ben Doyle has seen the band releasing a creative surge ahead yielding some 26 tracks in little over a week.

Opener Break The Glass hit's the ground running erupting with a cyclonic guitar melody laced by a harmonious union of vocals similar in stature to the gravitas of Air Traffic with the gritty feel good fact of a Biffy Clyro track. There is a certain pop-punk, punk-rock feel to track No Way Back, it's catchy simple melody has all the feel of a Blink 182 or Linkin Park number fanning the air with a certain Americanistic feel. A major shift in the theme and tone of the album is evident eschewed from the juvenile lyrics and formulaic song writing of past releases in favour of a more conceptual, nuanced lyrical style coupled with a darker, more experimental sound in play. Hundred Reasons composition is much the same as it always has been in part however, favourable towards, (and seemingly always dominated by), the guitars of Ben Doyle and Larry Hibbert.

With the course of unfortunate events and creative/experimentation skills of a new band member it would seem that the band have turned a corner. There are quite simply a hundred reasons to buy this album!