Reviews

Ash - Twilight of the Innocents

Apparently this will be the last album Ash will ever make via the cd format. Passing it up to the power of the World Wide Web. Time will only tell how that ends up. A few years on, with the depature of guitarist, Charlotte Hatherley, Ash fire back with Twilight of the Innocents. Opening things with the rock-a-long "I Started a Fire", they get themselves off to a rather distinctive start.

Midway through their 6th effort, thoughts begin to wander on the state of the bands songwriting, lacking the fire power of 2004's Meltdown and the ease and pure catchiness of their 90's records. At times the record comes across as tired and uninspired with only a few tracks conjuring up the glory days. Tim Wheeler sounds the same though possibly even whinier then ever before. The lyrics and song structures are kept simple. First single "Polaris" captures the Coldplayesque feel laden with piano and over dramatic orchestrations. "Palace of Excess" and "Shadows" are possibly the catchiest tracks on offer. Ash fans shan't be too terribly disappointed as it pretty much offers up the usual Ash rock recipes with only taking a more lush production with the addition of strings and various instrumentation.

With the missing element of Hatherley, thoughts ponder on whether her omission to the creation of this album has anything to do with it's more then not uninspiring result. The album only whisks some flair on the odd occasion not enough to captivate it's audience, like they once did. But for the die hard Ash fans, there is enough hooks and catchy choruses to get you through. Though i suppose it's tough for a band like Ash that have been around for quite sometime to keep it fresh and still have a place in today's music scene, so in that aspect I think they do enough here to stay relevent.


6.5/10