AWOL Nation

There is a lot of talk about ‘Identity’ and generally, for a band, this is taken to mean a band who makes a recognizable sound, some pure vision or coherent stance. For all Awol Nation’s undoubted talent they lack any kind of identity.

The album kicks off with a delicious piece of chill-out electro-symphonic earwash and if the album had continued in that vein then it would have been interesting at least but they then move squarely into Enter Shikari beats/metal space with vocals that sound like Brian Molko and follow that up by a Killers soundalike that worked for the Killers a couple of years ago but not now.
Every track sounds different from the one before and the playing is superb but there isn’t anything you can hang your hat on and say “That is the sound of AWOL Nation”.

There are a few standout numbers – ‘Guilty Filthy Soul’ is stunning and the single ‘Sail’ hits the mark dead centre and probably is the band at their best. ‘Knights of Shame’ is a symphony in 15 minutes and if there is one thing I will listen to again it is that one.

As a debut it has some great moments but AWOL Nation need to sort out who they really are and not waste their talents trying to be everyone.