The Airborne Toxic Event - All At Once

If you were to look to most music-media outlets you would be forgiven for getting the impression that The Airborne Toxic Event are up there with the likes of Gary Glitter, Phil Spector an Rebecca Black in terms of vitriol. Although there is a certain zeitgeist to frown upon those who perform angsty soft rock (take a look at Snow Patrol or Coldplay) it just seems a little bit uncalled-for. Granted, they're not exactly a band set to change the music scene, or overwhelm you with beauty (ignoring the soppy girls fanbase (sorry Jen if you're reading)), but there's a certain charm about the music for me that speaks volumes, and is instantly more forgivable than the vacuous personality-voids that occupy most of what's seen as 'cool'.

For with TATE you always know where you stand: having made small ripples of success with 2008's "Sometime Around Midnight", from their self-titled debut, we were given an immediate glimpse into a world of melodrama, romance and tragedy in a vaguely theatrical sense of self-reverie. It's fair to say the follow-up doesn't drift too far from that formula - 'All at Once' introduces itself with a heavy U2 inspiration; their attempt at a Where The Streets Have No Name. To their credit, they have this style pinned to a tee - it builds, slowly (and somewhat predictably) but gracefully, and is a worthy successor to the orchestrated and arena-dazzling Sometime Around Midnight. 'Numb' emerges from the explosions with a riff and synth-hook not too dissimilar from My Chemical Romance's recent album, or White Lies' debut - it's that same vibe of 80s-revivalist post-punk drumbeats that fill the void for so many other bands that it would fade into obscurity were it not for Mikel Jollett's captivating vocal performances.


'Changing' is a pleasant amalgamation of pop-rock riffs that remind me of about 20 different songs with its kneejerk barked vocals. But it's when TATE turn to the softer ballads that their flaws are really exposed: 'All For A Woman' tries simultaneously to be a rock-and-roll "last dance at the Prom" and introduce electric guitars towards the end that really has the same effect Marty McFly's show-offs did in Back to the Future. It could eventually grow to be quite charming but for now it isn't working for me. It's more of a noticeable oddity when compared with the following 'Doesn't Mean A Thing': a 2-minute burst of clap-along indie-pop that's catchy enough to sweep you into the rhythm and daring to include expletives in the lyrics. Ooer.

The U2 parody continues into a depressing 'The Kids Are Ready to Die' with Bono-like howls and nothing but Jollett and a barely audible guitar which struggles to find attention in amongst Jollett's hysteria, like a bad Bruce Springsteen karaoke performance. It eventually subsides into a rowdy drum affair 'Welcome to Your Wedding', as effortlessly catchy as Muse's Uprising or Marilyn Manson's Beautiful People - before oddly spoiling itself a little with the odd lyrical inclusion of "We all want peace/we don't negotiate with terror". Those who, like me, only really know of the band for SAM will be a little appeased with 'Half of Something Else' - poised somewhere between pretty electronic loops and their signature radio-friendly pop-rock ballads.

'Strange Girl' sounds a little bit like the Gaslight Anthem with its Bruce Springsteen-inspired blues/rock that's been molded into something anthemic and uplifting - indeed the track is probably the most cheerful on display. 'All I Ever Wanted' is then the most symphonic - making effective use of strings and electric guitars to build their most majestic of approaches - but again coming undone with the OTT lyrics, prompting nothing more from me, the blokiest of blokes, than "Oh just shag her already!"



Final track 'The Graveyard Near the House' was never going to stand out and with lyrics like "you asked me if I thought we would ever die" and "I pictured us like corpses lying side by side in pieces" it's an honourable attempt at quirky deviance that doesn't really work with perhaps the most inoffensive instrumentation of all time. Perhaps TATE know exactly what they're doing. By littering their work with replacable and forgettable downbeat tracks what's effectively being done here is a subtle suggestion that their highlights are fantastic by default. The jury's out on that one.

Rating: 6.5/10
Highlights: Half of Something Else, All At Once, Numb, All I Ever Wanted
Avoid: The Kids Are Ready to Die, The Graveyard Near the House, Changing