Snow Patrol are trying out two new directions. As I’m not a fan of their old stuff, this is only a good thing. If you are a long term fan, don’t worry, there’s still plenty of rousing stadium rock.

Snow Patrol have carved out a sizeable niche for themselves next to bands like Coldplay and Keane, playing soft, ever so slightly bombastic stadium rock. On ‘A Hundred Million Suns’, their fifth album to date, they show that they can do more.

Lo and behold, the usually fairly dour Snow Patrol can do knees-up 70’s Rock. Either glammed up as on ‘Engines’ or with a Boogie groove as on the single ‘Take Back The City’. Easily the most fun tunes I’ve heard being played by Snow Patrol so far. Think Stealers Wheel for ‘Take Back The City’ and Mott The Hoople or early David Bowie for ‘Engines’.

Watch Snow Patrol Play ‘Take Back The City’ Unplugged

Wait, there’s more. At a few points on this album, Snow Patrol drop their guitar based sound for a much more ambient, almost minimalist approach. Check out the trashy hand claps on ‘The Golden Floor’ or the subtle beauty of ‘The Lightning Strike’. On ‘Lifeboats’, the band combines this new Ambient streak with a mellow Manchester groove.

If you look beyond these five tracks, you’re catapulted back onto tried and tested Snow Patrol territory. I have to say, that’s where they lose me again.

What I take away from listening to ‘A Hundred Million Suns’ is that Gary Lightbody can sing when he stops whingeing and that the band has a bit of fire when you strip away the gloss. More experiments, please.

We say:

You can listen to ‘A Hundred Million Suns’ here and download the album from iTunes UK.

US Readers - Buy Snow Patrol’s New Album On CD Here!

UK And Ireland Readers - Buy ‘A Hundred Million Suns’ On CD And Vinyl Here!