Just a few short years into their career and already The Cooper Temple Clause have been signed, sealed and pigeonholed - "great live act, not so sure about the songs" seems to be the general consensus. And although debut 'See This Through And Leave' did show in patches the gestation of a potent hybrid of cyber-rock, it was ultimately a pretty pale facsimile of the Technicolour riot of their live shows.
So will their clumsily-titled (a quote from a Philip Larkin poem) second album do them more justice? 'The Same Mistakes' starts things off promisingly, building from a slow, echoing opening into a taut, driving anthem. 'Promises, Promises' is the Coopers at their sonically abrasive best, with Ben Gautrey throwing out the accusations - "You made promises you couldn't keep" - as the guitars throb around him. 'New Toys' is probably the highlight of the album, a multi-layered mini-epic that ebbs and flows around Gautrey's Liam Gallagher-gargling-razorblades howl and sound alchemist Didz Hammond conjuring up weird electronic noises that sound like a computer melting down.
After such a bright beginning, things take a turn for the worst as the 'experimental' side of the band takes over. The droning 'Talking To A Brick Wall' sounds like a group of sixth-formers trying to imitate Radiohead's excursions into electronica while 'Into My Arms' is '13'-era Blur without the soul. Both are eminently skippable.
'Blind Pilots' is much better, a straightforward, mid-paced guitar-powered song complete with big crashing chorus. 'A.I.M.', although sat on the more electronic side of the fence, also rocks but in a buzzing, creepy B-movie way with a hint of spooky piano in the background. 'Music Box' also starts off pulsing but with a gentler, more delicate feeling thanks to the lilting guitar line. That is until it morphs into a big fat dive-bombing riff and thunderous drums. Schizophrenic buggers.
The final two tracks return to the weaknesses of earlier. 'In Your Prime' is a half-spoken little self-indulgence, while 'Written Apology' is actually two songs in one - the first is a perfectly fine acoustic ballad that grows into another of their aural battering rams of a chorus before changing tack again into a mass of beats, beeps, drones and squeals that drifts on for far too long.
So, the Coopers haven't quite pulled it off yet. While 'Kick Up The Fire' shines in places, it stutters in others. The standout tracks will unquestionably burn on stage but the band's determination to experiment can be their Achilles heel as much as their saving grace. Everything suggests they have a great album within them, but this isn't it.
