Review by Ian Savage
Templeton Pek have come a long way in their four year existence. Since forming in Birmingham in 2009, they’ve had support shows with Funeral For A Friend, Rise Against and Bad Religion (to name but a few) and slots on the Give It A Name and Taste of Chaos tours in between recording four albums and EPs; in the band’s view, though, everything has been leading up to Signs. They’re certainly at their zenith so far in production terms – recorded in New York by Four Year Strong desk wizard Shep Goodman, this album sports a slick, muscular feel somewhat lacking in Pek’s previous recorded output. For better or worse, this is the commercial face of melodic hardcore.
Opener ‘Who We Are’ sets up a crushing guitar/bass/drums mix from the outset, before it moves aside for a slightly overbearing verse vocal; this leads up to a nicely soaring chorus though, with rabble-rousing lyrics seemingly better suited to a US hardcore band than one from deepest darkest Brum. Given a few listens the sentiment holds water even once one’s tongue is removed from cheek – the Placebo-esque intro to ‘Trial & Error’ heralds a similar lyrical tone over a harder-edged backing, which is continued pretty much throughout.
From orchestral augmentation (‘What Are You Waiting For’) through more anthemic choruses with more than a nod to Lost Prophets (‘Wake Me Up’ – the lead single from the album, as well as being the band’s first co-write) to the tasty modern production tweaks on ‘Alive (Promise Is Safety)’, ‘Signs’ displays promising eclecticism whilst simultaneously never really offering anything new. A solid offering, for sure, but one that could at first listen be by any number of bands. Definitely worth picking up if you’re already a fan, and worth a listen for any fan of modern commercial punk/hardcore, just don’t expect any new ground to be broken.
7 out of 10
Track listing:
- Who We Are
- Trial And Error
- Barriers
- Difference
- What Are You Waiting For
- Left To Fade
- Wake Me Up
- Signs
- Alive (Promise Is Safety)
- Echoes
- Slow Burn
You might like the album then, that’s pretty much the longest song on there ;) The rest are around the three-and-a-bit minute mark, nice bite-sized tunes.
Like the What Are You Waiting For song accompanying the review, but it goes on a tad too long.
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