Album Review: The Rakes

The Rakes: Klang (V2)

1. You're In It
2. That's The Reason
3. The Loneliness Of The Outdoor Smoker
4. Bitchin' In The Kitchen
5. The Woes Of The Working Women
6. 1989
7. Shackleton
8. The Light Of Your Mac
9. Mullers Rachet
10. The Final Hill

The third installment in this London band's 5 year career (to date) is another case of quick-fire, pop-punk in a Franz Ferdinand type of fashion (at times too similar).

Ten tracks in little more than 30 minutes, means 'Klang' is almost over before you've got into it and, whilst it's no classic, it does its best to keep you entertained.

The opening tracks, 'You're In It', 'That's The Reason' and 'The Loneliness Of The Outdoor Smoker' are brimming with gritty basslines and rampant riffs, but the rest of the album, '1989' excepted, is full of the best intentions but never gets beyond the sort of material you'd expect to find on a Franz Ferdinand b-sides release.

Having burst onto the scene with '22 Grand Job', an ode to the sufferers of crap entrance wage office jobs in The City, three albums in it appears that 'Klang' is the ideal mp3 soundtrack for those very same commuters. However, while office gaffers, The Rakes, trundle into town on the Northern Line, Mr. Kapranos and co., the chief executive, will be cruising in the Jag.

Top track: '1989'
Album Rating: 6/10





Last 5 NME-E reviews:
Starsailor: 'All The Plans'
U2: 'No Line On The Horizon'
Its A Buffalo: 'Don't Be Scared'
The Trestles: 'Hard Faced Town EP'
The Prodigy: 'Invaders Must Die'

Read all NME-E reviews