Young Guns release new album Echoes in a swirl of rock anthems that fall in a distinct style all their own. In just 15 months following their last record, the English alternative rockers are earnest sounding, though the collection gets jarringly disconnected in ambiguous themes that tries too hard for higher purpose.
Opening track “Bulletproof” comes in guns blazing on the disbelief of love passed, pounding drums and crunchy alternative rock guitars in tow. An Inception totem reference with title track “Echoes” and obscure echoes fading references get lost in a metaphor that just doesn’t cut it. “Careful What You Wish For” showcases what Young Guns seems to musically well, but with tired themes on feelings of selling off your soul. The following “Paranoid” soars on larger than life hooks, though with lyrics that aren’t especially memorable.
As a whole the Echoes record is aiming for the skies in the most epic way possible. Young Guns almost get serious in “Mad World” they attempt a stirring fight song anthem. In one of the album’s better moments “Awakening” features a more quieted melodic introduction on waking up, leading towards a rising chorus that’s actually rather decent. Then immediately after “Living in a Dream Is So Easy” gets lost in one idiom to the next, from a house of cards to being off the books. “Buried” while musically quite decent simply comes across like a throwaway pop song.
The tail end of the album continues in pretty much the same way. The closest thing to a love song on here is “Mercury in Retrograde” as it works out details in further poetic metaphors. Piano ballad “Paradise” with synthetic beats for the penultimate track seems rather predictable, lost in repetitive lines of something wrong over there. Highs and lows of the “Afterglow” blend together with a lackluster song sounding suspiciously like “Bulletproof,” trying for epic without much of any bite.
Granted, Young Guns are a talented group with anthems that have earned them opening spots with the likes of Bon Jovi. Despite that they could put out better than Echoes if they would take a little more time, especially after replacing one of their founding members within the same year.