Download, Sonisphere, T in the Park and a tour with Taking Back Sunday… it’s been a hectic summer for Twin Atlantic. Hold your judgements though, as the Scottish rock quartet offer much more than your average emo wannabes.
Their curiously titled debut mini-album, Vivarium, is an impressive first offering. Okay, technically a vivarium is a kind of greenhouse. Metaphor? Silly attention-grabbing title? Who knows? But as nice as a cryptic title and theme is, Twin Atlantic are out to prove that they deliver the goods as an independent rock act.
The snarling album opener ‘Lightspeed’ hits the ground running with catchy hooks galore. Recent single ‘You’re Turning into John Wayne,’ whilst breaking no ground for originality, is a perfect marriage of simple catchiness and natural Scottish charm. This outcry against global Americanization serves as one of the album’s highlights.
The six minute epic, ‘Caribbean War Syndrome’, offers chiming guitars, smooth atmospheric breaks and a beautiful build up that finally explodes into a cataclysmic climax. If he was a metal-head, The Edge would be proud.
Barry McKenna’s impressive guitar work soldiers on into ‘What Is Light? Where Is Laughter?’. A screaming buzz-saw of disjointed riffs launches the angry ‘Human After All,’ a track that showcases Sam McTrusty’s vocals in a way neglected by some numbers.
The zealous, stop-start haste of ‘Audience and Audio’ demonstrates the album’s only weakness. This is perhaps the only track that fails to maintain the standard and flair set by previous songs. Sadly, it risks being labelled as “just another emo song”.
Overall, though, this is a very commendable effort. By managing to avoid the usual clichés of the alternative rock scene, in some ways Twin Atlantic have already matched their mentors, Taking Back Sunday.
The gauntlet is now set down for the Scots; soon comes the difficult second album. Unfair comparisons to emo stereotypes will undoubtedly come in time but if they can replicate the quality of this debut, Twin Atlantic can confidently soar over any hurdle the music business can throw at them.
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