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Having replaced erratically squawking dubious keys player Pennie with Paul Mullen of Yourcodenameis: milo; The Automatic throw a heavier strop of a record than debut ‘Not Accepted Anywhere’. Although adolescent huffs are still a-plenty on the optimistically titled ‘This is a Fix’; they’ve dumbed down poppy temper tantrums into full-on heavier-duty rock stomps. Driving in with ‘Responsible Citizen’, the pissed-up night bus sing along of their albatross-esque ‘Monste’r is out; and a new breed of anger is in.
However, this all rather screams of a Topshop sponsored T-shirt with the words ‘Take Me Seriously’ plastered across it. Although single ‘Steve McQueen’ certainly nods to their knack for a catchy hit, the feel of the album seems to be clawing at the elusive ‘credibility’ podium. This attempt, however, seems for the most part in vain. “Everything’s just how I left it…the position has been filled” they determinedly holler: what, the position of post-Busted fan darlings? Of Hollyoaks indie golddust? They’ve proved their debut album titled wrong and been accepted, well, pretty much everywhere, so where really is the harm in resting on their young laurels in the realms of pre-watershed diet rock?
They seem reticent to shake of their pop sheen, ‘Magazines’ being a saccharine coated example; and they have proved that although they have dusted off the slaverings of fourteen year old girls from their first album, they are still more than a bit damp behind the ears. Excruciating is the only way to describe the chorus of ‘This Ship’ ; and the hook of ‘Bad Guy’, “good things don’t happen to ugly people” has been unfortunately proved wrong. Although the good things certainly happened on ‘Not Accepted Anywhere’; suffrage for the sympathy vote seems to have evaded those of discerning ears.
Although there is a lot of effort and a sense of growth and maturity on this album, influences seem to have started and ended with fellow Welsh boys LostProphets sans distortion; and the jumbled result seems to leave The Automatic firmly stuck been pop-rock and a hardcore place.
