The Sunshine Underground
Raise The Alarm (2006)

I must say right away that I've been waiting for this album for nearly a year now, and now that it's finally here I can certainly say it does not disappoint. With all the music that's out there at the moment, what The Sunshine Underground brings is something totally fresh. They are bringing together the Indie music with a music more 'dancier' element, almost all of the songs on this along you just want to get up and go crazy to.

Having seen them perform live I know that I am not the only person who thinks this about their music, it was clear from the audience reaction that people just love to dance their music.

From the first track 'Wake Up' you get a great sense of what this alarm is all about, this is followed by their most recent single 'Put You In Your Place'. Really upbeat tracks driven by the bands signature sounds which is a much cleaner distortion compared to that of a lot of other bands that are making it at the moment that are using the full distortion sound to the extremities.

Vocals come from Craig Wellington who also plays the rhythm guitar on the tracks. His voice really does stand out on every single track, and my personal favourite vocally has to be 'Dead Scene', the vocals are absolutely spot on.

Other track's that really stand out of this album is the re-worked original single 'Commercial Breakdown', now much shorter and which quicker paced, the also re-worked 'My Army' which is completely different from the EP version, but I have to say I wasn't expecting to live up to the original but has grown on me to be even better, and finally the 'slow track' on the album that also featured on the 'I Ain't Losing Any Sleep' single, 'Somebody's Always Getting In The Way' - a superb way to break up after the storming tracks that came before.

This album is really quite something and I would easily say it is one of the best debut albums of the year, and this band really are gonna get recognised soon enough. Having performed at Reading and Leeds festivals to rave reviews, 2007 is looking like an even more massive year for The Sunshine Underground.


+ Review by Ryan

[Back To Albums]