Thursday 13 February 2014

Top 50 of 2013: No.49: Middleman - Counterstep (Self-Release)




It’s always nice when I get sent a link to an album I’ve wanted to check out anyway, even better when that album is good enough to make me re-evaluate my top 50 of the year to sneak them in. Middleman are another local band I was lucky enough to see at last years and by the looks of things final Crooked Ways festival, if you remember I said I wanted to hear more from them back then, took half a year but due to them being nice chaps and sending me a link to the album I finally got there. Kicking off with the massive sing-along of ‘Helpless’ you can’t help being impressed, especially when I can say I was singing the chorus to myself days later after one listen, Middleman take all the good elements of bands like Enter Shikari, Hadouken!, and to an extent The Music, and create something of their own with bigger hooks than Abu Hamza. Hearing a song like ‘When I Close My Eyes’ it sounds so familiar that you’d swear you’ve heard it countless times, which is impossible because I don’t listen to the radio ever, this feeling is prevalent throughout this album, and whether you like the more urban aspects of the band or prefer the huge choruses, or the crunching heavy guitars, or just like to buzz your tits off to the dance beats, this album has something for everyone. From a band that released their first single 7 years ago, it seems that their time is finally due, and if they don’t move on to bigger and better things there really is no justice. Awesome artwork also.

8/10

Buy here: http://www.middlemanband.co.uk/Welcome%21/ALBUM.html

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