Posted on: November 6, 2008 Posted by: John B. Moore Comments: 0

It’s hard to listen to a Snow Patrol record nowadays and think of anything but the weepy, melodrama Grey’s Anatomy. The show may have added a few hundred thousand members to their fan club, thanks to heavy air play, but has pretty much cemented the band’s rep as being lightweight ear candy for those who get their music recommendations strictly from TV commercials – justified or not. There are a few standout tracks on A Hundred Million Suns, the band’s fifth album, specifically the first single “Take Back the City” and the record opener “If There’s a Rocket Tie it to Me,” but half way into release, a severe case of déjà vu starts to build in.

It’s easy to categorize Snow Patrol as just another foppish, piano-heavy Brit pop band in the same vein as Keane, Travis and Coldplay, but they have proven in the past, most notably with 2004’s brilliant-from-start-to-finish Final Straw, that they can write stellar songs. Unfortunately, with A Hundred Million Suns, they tend to keep that brilliance under wraps for most of the record.

Top Tracks: Take Back the City, If There’s a Rocket Tie it to Me/Engines

Rating: 7/10

Snow Patrol – A Hundred Million Suns (CD) / 2008 Geffen /11 tracks

www.snowpatrol.com / www.geffen.com

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