Lights, Camera, Action Action.
Action Action are a band that like their lengthy titles, with the track listing practically shoe horned into the inlay case such are their titles length. Musically, the record is a glorious mish mash of melodies and stolen songs with the band appearing as a magpie stealing shiny titbits from other acts.
It sounds more like a compilation record than a cohesive piece of music and the influences on Action Action seem to be quite varied. '120 Ways To Kill You....' features a rhythm guitar strum that's very similar to The Flaming Lips 'Yoshimi' and there are notable flourishes of early U2 and the brash swagger of prime Oasis , with 'The Game' almost encouraging the listener to bellow out "So Sally can wait" over its chorus.
These blatant nicks aside, there is an electro feel to this album with the music coming across sounding similar to The Bravery at times with its high end and fuzz laying the backdrop to squealing vocals that would not go amiss on a Mansun record.
The melodies do keep coming one after another and to the bands credit, there is a lot of things going on and some of the choruses do quite quickly stick in the mind. The vocals are quite poppy in places which again makes it easier to sing along, there is the odd piano riff tinkling away but the key musical accompaniment are clanging guitars and brash drums. There is a lot of loud pomp in the music of Action Action, its not a bad thing but you get the impression the band believes they deserve to be on a large stage. But with all things reliant on pace and power, when the tempo starts to slow, troubles can arise and this is what occurs with 'An Army of Shapes Between Wars.'
Such is the modern malaise with many records these days; there is a marked downturn in quality in the second half of the record. Perhaps most acts would struggle to maintain the momentum gained with a dynamic first half of the album but many acts may consider it wise to trim the amount of tracks they place on albums these days. The music industry is trying to push a value for money ethos these days with bonus tracks and longer albums but when the quality doesn't match the main body, the extra songs represent a false economy.
Clearly, Action Action aren't the only act to suffer from this condition but it does let them down when the first half held some promise. All in all, a not bad record but probably not one that will become a regular on your playlist.