One of the trio of bands on Scotland's Room 3 Records, Superhero's debut for the label is a self-assured release which shows a band itching to take their place alongside recent breakthrough acts like Travis and Coldplay.
Kicking off in high-energy mode, employing more distortion than either of their labelmates' recent albums, Superhero show their rock edge, but quickly move towards a more acoustic/ballad-based sound with tracks like "Pre-destiny" and "Apple Eye". The results are mixed in success, with the higher octane tracks generally being the stronger songs.
The general sound is heavily layered, with a good balance of electric and acoustic guitars providing a dense backing for Tim Cheshire's impassioned vocals. The band's aptitude for melodies is brought out strongly, but at times, particularly later on in the album, a little more work tightening the arrangements would probably have paid off well as some of the tracks are a little too drawn out.
A promising release from a band who are winning plenty of fans at the moment. There's some tightening up to do, but generally this is a solid collection of pop-rock songs.
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