Cold War Kids — Loyalty To Loyalty

Loyalty To Loyalty

Downtown/Warner

Kate Harper (CHARTattack)

10/30/2008 12:16pm

Cold War Kids show people how not to make a sophomore album on Loyalty To Loyalty. While their Robbers & Cowards debut garnered critical accolades, it's unlikely that this record will do the same, since it's unfocussed and most of its songs are just downright terrible. Things start off somewhat promisingly with "Against Privacy," but by second track "Mexican Dogs" and third song "Every Valley Is Not A Lake," the band have already lost their sense of direction and things wander and crash in a nearly unlistenable cacophony. As catchy as "Something Is Not Right With Me" is, the song ultimately makes them sound like a cheap version of The Rapture, and vocalist Nathan Willett should probably consider joining that band, since he almost does Luke Jenner's voice better than Jenner. In fact, Willett is partly to blame for the quality of this album. His unlistenable yelp is what makes most of these songs directionless. While it's nice that he can sing so high, it would be great if he could still sing in tune. Don't be surprised if by the time you hit "Every Man I Fall For," in which Jenner — oops… I mean Willett — sings such terrible lyrics as "Every man I fall for/Drinks his coffee black," you may want to take the CD out of your player and chuck it out the window. Avoid this.

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