We Are Lions - Eight Arms Made This (CD)

All Music Guide

There's a peculiarly British brand of epic rock and roll that was first perfected in the postpunk era before it was brought to the dorms and stadiums of America courtesy of U2, Echo and the Bunnymen and the Waterboys in the '80s, early Radiohead in the '90s and Coldplay more recently. We Are Lions are from Hollywood, and they're not trying to sound British on their debut album, but the connection to those bands is impossible to miss. Guitarist Atom Whitman's lead vocals positively drip with earnestness without ever descending into the petulant mewling that's become the emo standard, and Matt Matawaran's wheezy keyboards inject a suitably '80svintage drone into the proceedings. Eight Arms Made This teeters right on the very edge of pretentiousness quite often, but then there are songs like the excellentlytitled "The Handsomest Drowned Man in the World," powered by a nagging postpunk guitar figure and a herkyjerky throb of a rhythm section that makes up for any other faults. - Stewart Ma...son, All Music Guide Read more Less