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The Worldonfire - ...Music To Leadership (Album Review)
Thursday, 14 July 2011 Written by Ben Bland
The Worldonfire - ...Music To Leadership (Album Review)

There is something undeniably frustrating about this album. It seems to be trying to be something that it is not and, considering that this is a debut record that is a tad worrying to say the least. You see The Worldonfire are an alternative rock band from Essex, with touches of Yourcodenameis:milo-esque post-hardcore to make them a slightly more exciting prospect. In fact, at times the vocal acrobatics of bassist and vocalist David Walsh do sound a lot like Paul Mullen from the aforementioned band and this would have been a great thing for those who miss yci:m...except Paul Mullen has now formed Young Legionnaire, who fill the yci:m shaped void in the music scene pretty comfortably. That doesn’t mean there is no place for The Worldonfire however, although they seem to have taken a dodgy hint that the scene is full and that they should try and sound a bit more ‘different’ and ‘interesting’.

ImageThe British music scene lost Oceansize at the beginning of this year, a band that spent a large amount of time playing with alt-rock/post-hardcore acts a lot like The Worldonfire but were always something totally different. The Worldonfire seem to have aspirations in that sort of direction, of being one thing but not wholly...of always being something unique as well and sadly this is the main flaw with “...Music to Leadership”. This band have got some brilliant songs, 'Five Years' is a chaotic enough burst to start any record with a bang and 'Patient(ce)' actually sounds like a rather good self-titled era Deftones track. 'Small Town Violence is Big Business', meanwhile, not only has a title that earns it plus points before it has even started but is also one of the most invigorating four minutes you will hear on record from a new band this year. 'You' manages to be an album closer of suitably anthemic proportions. Other songs are pretty awesome as well, or at least they are until they try and go all pseudo-prog on an unsuspecting listener. It is hard to know quite why '(Life) it Changes Everything' or 'Sing for Something Better' feel the need to wander along for an extra minute or so than it is needed, unless The Worldonfire felt some need to slow the momentum they were building...which seems unlikely really doesn’t it?

Not that these two tracks are the worst culprits of The Worldonfire trying to be a little bit too clever for their own good. 'Mary’s Midnight Prayer' sounds almost like an attempt to reach the majesty of great vocal post-rock but instead is just a bit dull, stretching on for an ‘elephant in the room’-esque eight minutes. Editing is a crucial part of writing and recording music. Just one extra chorus can change the perception of a song from ‘excellent’ to merely ‘good’ and the apparent desire of The Worldonfire to give everything a slightly unnecessary art rock feel is, to put it bluntly, bloody annoying because it takes away from what is otherwise a very impressive debut record. The Worldonfire may well be destined for great things, this record certainly suggests that they are eminently capable but at the moment they should stick to the straightforward rock songs and leave alone attempts at being something more unique and experimental. They are very definitely at their best being more Biffy Clyro than Oceansize. “...Music to Leadership” feels disjointed as a result of some unwise creative decisions but the heights reached on some of its best tracks are more than enough to suggest that they will be back with a vengeance, maybe with additional nous to deliver the more experimental edge that they clearly long for.

Album Rating: 6/10

"...Music to Leadership" is out now on Dead Planet Records.
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