Editors - The End Has A Start
(2007)

Review by Sean Lynch

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Coldplay has a lot to answer for. Well, perhaps it isn't even their fault. Perhaps we blame The Beatles for Travis, Travis for Coldplay, Coldplay for Snow Patrol and Snow Patrol for whatever is being played during this weeks emotional 'Greys Anatomy' montage.

The newest album from Editors, the latest 'Next Big Things' from the UK, is one of ear pleasing annoyance. From one point of view, the songs are epic and downright anthemic - the sort of songs you can see playing full bore on your car stereo as you drive home from your ex-girlfriends place on a rainy night.

On the other hand, we've heard them all before.

The first single Smokers Outside The Hospital Door is a superb song, as is the title track An End Has A Start which hits all the right notes in all the right spots:

- Sombre opening vocals followed by screeching guitar. Check.
- Angelic Chorus. Check.
- Building to euphoric crescendo. Check.

The thing is, the first few times I heard the album I thought I was listening to the latest music from Interpol. While there have been numerous comparisons made in the past to the likes of Snow Patrol (several tracks sound like they've just replaced the Snow Patrol vocalist), Franz Ferdinand, U2 (the early guitar licks of Bones could easily be mistaken for I Will Follow) and a bevy of other "Epic-Mood-Rock" acts - there is simply no escaping the Interpol tag. 

It's just too present a factor.

As for the songs themselves, you can pretty much tell what you're in for really. It's a fairly dark album with a lot of themes centred around death and the drudgery of life, but there are some really powerful moments tucked away in there.

It's the sort of album that continues to grow on you, without ever displaying any real threat of a 'Classic Song'. The sort of songs that take a good two minutes to get going before it can really be identified from the rest of the crop.

There are some excellent moments however. The aforementioned opening tracks are the high points, with The Racing Rats adding some much needed pace to proceedings.

Of the slow burners, Spiders works the best - with The Weight of the World coming in a close second. These are the tunes that take more time to grow on you, but like mildew in a steamy bathroom they do exactly that.

However, the rest of the album is simply a mixed bag of mundane, soberingly depressing tracks that seem to bleed into one another. Granted, "The End Has A Start" was used as a way for band members Tom Smith (lead singer/songwriter/Interpol Impersonator/Nick Cave apprentice), Chris Urbanowicz (guitar/synth), Russell Leetch (bass) and Ed Lay (drums) to deal with the death which touched their lives during the break between albums - but come on - give us some light!

You're not going to dislike "End", in fact, it will may even go on to become one of the biggest albums of the year - for the pure fact that it's so easy to listen to and connect with. 

But at some point something has to give. At some point, this is going to disappear into the dusty CD case when the next phase of music kicks and we are all asking "Editors?".

RATING: 3 out of 5