The Wanted - Battleground Review
Battleground is a clean club-pop record which certainly lacks originality, due to tracks like the clichéd ‘I Want it All' and too many of the songs sound alike.
rating: 2
The Wanted are an Anglo-Irish boy band whose debut single All Time Low was a huge number one last year. The band, which has the same management as The Saturdays, is made up of Max George, Siva Kaneswaran, Tom Parker, Nathan Sykes and James McGuiness. The Wanteds debut album sold over 400,000 copies, and was adored by teenage girls. Theyve already notched up five top three hits. The five guys see themselves as different from the majority of todays boy bands; they say that theyre more of a 'lad band'. In an interview with OK! Magazine they mention the bands rivalry with JLS. Our musics really different, though. Theyve gone down a more R&B route, whereas were more indie and edgy. These guys arent just band mates on the edge of great chart success; theyre decent mates who, until last year, were living in a South London flat together. Fans of the band will no doubt be eager to hear the follow up album Battleground, which has just been released. The record features the single Gold Forever, which was released in March this year in aid of Comic Relief; it peaked at number 3 on the UK singles chart. The album opener Glad You Came went to number 1 when it was also released as a single. The track starts off with a very soft piano before kicking into life with an upbeat dance sound. This track is followed by Lightning, which features a catchy, sing along chorus. As with Glad You Came, Warzone opens with a gentle piano part. It then bursts into a slow dub step beat, incorporating both piano and electric synth sounds. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uwlXNYztSWY Last To Know opens with a great trip hop beat which instantly reminded me of the beat on the classic track Mysterons by Portishead. Ill Be Your Strength is a rave ballad which has a great deal of self-restraint as the heavy pounding erupts right in the last minute of the song. However the problem with this track is that it sounds like so many other songs that are in the top 40 chart at the moment; it really lacks originality. Similarly, I Want It All is a dull number. Personally, Id much rather listen to Queens song of the same name. The track drags along with a blur of bland vocals. One of the issues that I have with this record is that its really not original in its sound; as I pointed out, several tracks sound like countless other pop songs from todays charts. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k0ML9bI-pxg On the other hand, Lie to Me has some cool synth sounds and its great the way that it gradually builds up to a big chorus. Another album highlight is Rocket, with its strong pounding beat and uplifting feel. It does a good job of blending Euro-synths with soft-rock. The albums title is fitting considering the competition that The Wanted face at the moment, with One Direction and JLS hot on their heels. The theme continues with Warzone and Invincible. Maybe theyre showing the competition that theyre not about to give in and that they can write catchier pop songs than their rivals. Battleground is a clean club-pop record which certainly lacks originality, due to tracks like the clichéd I Want it All. However, the bands fans clearly dont mind this, as shown by the fact that two of the singles from the album have made it into the top 3 in the charts. The trouble with this album is that too many of the songs sound alike. For example, The Weekend and Glad You Came sound far too similar. Hopefully with their next album therell be more variety. The Wanted's new album Battleground is out now.