Let's be straight, if it wasn't for Pete Wentz, fall Out Boy and Fueled By Ramen, The Academy Is... wouldn't be burning up venues across the world right now, would they? 'Almost Here' was a fun little record, pop-rock and full of spunk and swagger, with a singer straight out of the Mick Jagger school of homoerotic moves. But whether William Beckett is gay, straight or both, he certainly knows how to compel an audience. And it's his vocal performance which saves 'Santi' from being a bit of a disappointment.
On first listen, 'Santi' is crap. There are few hooks, the guitars sound too slick and polished and the golden choruses of 'Almost Here', with their almost hypnotic lyrics and swagger, are missing. But scratch at the surface and tracks like 'Sleeping With Giants (Lifetime)' and the opening 'Same Blood' are actually pretty decent. Single 'We've Got A Big Mess On Our Hands' shows the band can have a big hit on their hands too; full of pomp and ceremony it's an overblown stomper made over-dramatic by a theatrical frontman who manages to have an audience eating out of the palm of his hand, even on CD.
The problem is, there are some right duffers on 'Santi' too. 'Everything We Had' is an abomination of a ballad, something that deserves to be banished to cliche 101, while 'Bulls In Brooklyn' sounds like a mix of Billy Ocean and Gary Glitter. Yeah, ask your mum and dad. The album isn't so much saved by 'Neighbors' and 'Chop Chop', but it is a relief for the record to re-grow some balls. The Academy Is... show glimpses of greatness on 'Santi', but there's a lack of consistency which would make this a genuinely great album. Instead, expect it to do well with the Wentz-a-like fans who lap up everything FBR do - but chalk it up as a minor disappointment overall.
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