Above Them have only been going a little more than a year and this is their second release - and a highly polished and impressive release it is too. When I reviewed them before I compared them to Against Me! and Hot Water Music, and while I stand by the latter still I think the band have gone a little bit down the early Saves The Day route, especially in the opening song (they didn't send a tracklisting so I can't name names I'm afraid!) Without wanting to be offensive there's also a hint of Fightstar in the third rack - the vocals have a rough Charlie Simpson edge and the way the guitars and drums sound reminds me a bit of the first single the ex-Busted fella's new band released. That isn't meant to be derogatory in the slightest, I just feel that song specifically heads off down a route that the latest Deep Elm signings have so far showed.
The six songs here show plenty of promise, possibly even more so than their first set of demos which were highly impressive even then. The level of musicianship has been taken up a notch - the guitars are heavier, the vocals better produced - and it sounds all the more professional for it. So much so, that I would be surprised if the band aren't signed to someone off the back of this release. The band do have that tradtional 'Leeds sound' yet add to it with more mainstream influences and I feel their take on it works very well. There's less pretense than many of their peers and I feel Above Them's attempt at putting one foot in the mainstream camp and the other in the indie 'scene' will serve them well. Above Them are one of the best unsigned bands I've heard in the last six months, so you really should check them out...
www.abovethem.com
above_them@hotmail.com
Paul
