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Album Details

• Artist: Snow Patrol
• Album: Final Straw
• Label: Universal
• Year of Release: 2004
• ME Rating:
• Reviewed by: dscanland on 2004-05-27

I've called this on a couple other albums and I think Snow Patrol have what it takes to become radio rock standards. They have a fairly polished sound but the one weak part with Final Straw is the lyrics. Normally I'm not hard on bands for lyrics. It's just something that I don't really notice but vocalist Gary Lightbody seems like he is forcing round lyrics into square holes. "Tiny Little Fractures" is one of these songs. It's a catchy song and if the lyrics weren't so whacked it would have great potential. Fortunately there are other tracks such as "Wow" or "Spitting Games" where everything seems to be going right. It's the case for these songs that the radio play comes in. This Scottish band sounds like they could be an American band with one difference, their song structure is a little more complex than a lot of rock bands right now. Have a listen to "Somewhere A Clock Is Ticking". It is a song filled with a lot of dynamics. While it doesn't get moving very fast, they do manage to build a wall of sound on it. This band is experienced too, having released a couple albums on the coveted Scottish label Jeepster already. If the production on Final Straw wasn't so crisp you might even lump these guys into an Emo category. Universal is taking a bit of a gamble but I'm guessing that if they persevere Snow Patrol will be heard on the radio this time next year. It will be a long hard slug but a payoff like Jimmy Eat World and Switchfoot, two gambles that a major label has supported and believed in. Sure, Snow Patrol has it's flaws but again, we are talking about radio rock here-likable, catchy and singable.

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