REVIEWS
Boston Manor have released their highly anticipated sophomore record, titled “Welcome To The Neighbourhood.” The title track, “Welcome To The Neighbourhood,” kicks the album off and does so well. Right away, it shows Boston Manor going for a different sound and incorporates different influences, but the pop leaning melodies still have the band’s darker touch. “Flowers In Your Dustbin” combines elements of their sound old and new, incorporating the newer influences in the instrumentation and mixing them with louder and more emotional vocals. Fantastic lead single “Halo” is up next and while it’s a catchy and pretty upbeat song, it touches on the datk topic of addiction in the lyrical content, with lines like “just a quick fix and I’ll get clean” in the bridge. Following this is the third single “England’s Dreaming,” with some memorable hooks delivered through another great vocal performance.
“Funeral Party” is another pretty upbeat track, driven by a mix of electronic and rock elements in the intro. The vocals are softer in the verse, but the song gets aggressive real quick as there’s some screaming added in before the short, yet still massive chorus. The softer vocals in the first verse of “Digital Ghost” allow the instrumentation to shine a bit more during that section. I love the bass and drums building the song up, while the brighter guitars add more emphasis, all in preparation for the huge chorus. That chorus, though a bit repetitive, gets the song going and after that, the vocals are a lot louder and a bit harsher, while the instrumentation gets a bit more aggressive to match. The vocals of “Tunnel Vision” grab the listener’s attention right away as the darker guitars back it up and really set the tone for the song. “Bad Machine” starts off acoustically and is one of the songs I couldn’t really get into at first, but it grew on me more with its interesting melodies. “If I Can’t Have It No One Can” is a bit more happy sounding as far as the composition goes, especially during the chorus, and that chorus is one of the best ones on this record. “Hate You” brings some more ambient guitars, leading the softer verses before a huge chorus comes in. “FY1” is a dark interlude that seems to fit the mood of this album and fit in this band’s sound pretty well. Screamed vocals take the spotlight during the pre-chorus of “Stick Up,” while its chorus provides some more catchy melodies. The album concludes with “The Day I Ruined Your Life,” an acoustic ballad with a pretty simple guitar riff driving it at first, though it picks up a bit when the drums come in. I love when the rest of the instrumentals kick in, and brings a lot more emotion and passion to the song for awhile before that acoustic guitar leading the song comes back in and these guitar parts close out the song and the album pretty well. Overall, I loved this record. Yes, the band’s sound is quite different on here, but I think that the change worked out so well for them. I think that this record is very memorable and might be another contender for one of my favorite albums of this year.
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