Howling Bells: Radio Wars
Released 2nd March 2009
Independiente
It has been a long three years since Juanita Stein and co unleashed their debut, and Radio Wars arrives having suffered delays and the band label difficulties. The signs weren’t particularly encouraging when Into The Chaos slipped out last year, the track lacked the atmosphere and drive of their live performance. This was a common criticism of much of the debut too, there was a few great ideas but when stretched over a long-player it seemed a little one-paced and drawn out. A similar underwhelming feeling pervades Radio Wars, despite it’s shorter length. In fact all the pluses and drawbacks of the debut apply to this second effort. The good tracks (Cities Burning Down, Nightingale) are great; soaring guitar lines and wistful vocals. However some of the record feels forced and leaden, not helped by some poor lyrics (check Let’s Be Kids as a case in point) and uninventive rhythms. That said, the good songs outweigh the bad and this is a solid album – it just needs a little bit more of the excitement so prevalent at their live shows.
Rating: 
Nightingale (MP3)
Into The Chaos (MP3)
Photo by Dave W Clarke
