World Record Reviewed

Lower Than Atlantis - World Record

Last week Lower Than Atlantis signed to Island Records, finishing off what, by anyone’s standards, has been a hell of a year. One of British music’s most hardworking bands (already records a third LP, less than a year after the last was released) they no doubt deserve recognition for the rate at which they tour and put out music. However, last year’s ‘World Record’, while arguably launching LTA into a much larger, Radio One playlisted world, has come in for some serious flak from ‘the scene’. Perhaps now, with the band about to head off on another part of their career it would be a good time to ask, is it any good?

Well from the moment you hit play one thing is clear, this is no ‘Far Q’. The rattling bass, buzzing guitars and hoarse vocals are, for the most part gone. In their place comes a tighter, more polished sound. Mike Duce has unlocked his inner crooner and someone has invested a lot of time in making everything sounds just so. As a result the thing sizzles with hooks and catchy tunes that you suspect have always been somewhere in LTA’s music but never quite fully appreciated.

‘Deadliest Catch’ is a prime example of this new found pop-punk mentality. ‘Ahoy there, all aboard, this relationship is leaving shore’ sings Duce over palm muted guitar before the chorus comes to life and you find yourself humming along before you know what you’re doing. ‘(Motor) Way of Life’ is in a similar vein, although at times it feels a little forced. However ‘Beech Like The Tree’ is another sing along classic, precision engineering to make bop your head. ‘Up In Smoke’ meanwhile is probably the catchiest song about smoking and emphysema you’ll ever hear.

‘Bug’ brings back some of the hard edge that older LTA fans will know and love, and along with ‘Working For The Man By Day…’ is the closest the albums gets to ‘Far Q’. Yet even when the guitars are allowed to loosen up and the vocals hit ‘raw’ it’s still a record that sounds so tight you’re be afraid it might burst at the seams.

There are some interesting stylistic departures here too. Album closer ‘R.O.I’ is Foo Fighters aping in the extreme and pulled off very well. ‘Could You? Would You?’ slows the pace and brings the melancholy ‘You are miserable…and I’m sure it snot my place, but your new girlfriends not to my taste’ with the help of some backing vocal woahs and a nicely judged guitar solo. However the prize for ‘surprise change of pace’ has to go to ‘Another Sad Song’, mid-record the minimalistic handful of chords and slow, mournful lyrics provide a beautiful contrast to the high energy, fast paced songs that bookend it. ‘Don’t cry, we all make mistake from time to time, unfortunately for me, being me was mine’ go the lyrics.

Of course, good as this album is on its own, you’re opinion of it will (sadly) be shaped by your take on pre-World Records LTA. A lot of people have struggled to cope with seeing arguably one of the British hardcore scenes’ brightest sparks ‘sell out’ and write a record that is undoubtedly more commercial and radio friendly than anything they’ve ever done before. On my first listen, back in May of last year I was unconvinced. Yet despite myself, when I saw Lower Than Atlantis at Sonisphere I couldn’t help but sing along. It was at that point that I finally realised that I actually liked ‘World Record’ and liked it a lot. Sure I probably like ‘Far Q’ and ‘Bretton’ a little more but then they are very different beasts.

This is an example of what can be done when a band decided to think outside the box and doesn’t care what ‘the scene’ will think of them. It’s a triumph of ambition over doing what’s expected of you and has almost single handedly launched the band onto a major label. Give it a listen, and if you don’t like it at first at least try again. If you don’t dig it after that then fair play, but at least give it a go, it might well surprise you.