The Subways - Young For Eternity

My quest in the listening and discovering new bands to preach about leads me to The Subways! This three-piece outfit is one of the latest in the world of modern rock music, and this, their debut, is a cracker.

The Subways were formed in 2000 (I believe). Their line up is:
Billy Lunn - Vocals/Guitar
Charlotte Cooper - Bass/Supporting and Backing vocals
Josh Morgan - Drummer

THE TRACKS

...
...which only just hints at the fresh but powerful sound of this great band. It begins with acoustic guitar, bass and drums before a more powerful, Razorlight-esque guitar comes in. Both Billy and Charlotte have powerful, if slightly unique voices that may take a bit of getting used to for some people. However, together, they form a beautiful pair of vocal chords. This is a great song. - 9/10

2 - Holiday - A standard rock song with nice ... more

My quest in the listening and discovering new bands to preach about leads me to The Subways! This three-piece outfit is one of the latest in the world of modern rock music, and this, their debut, is a cracker.

The Subways were formed in 2000 (I believe). Their line up is:
Billy Lunn - Vocals/Guitar
Charlotte Cooper - Bass/Supporting and Backing vocals
Josh Morgan - Drummer

THE TRACKS

1 - I Want To Hear What You've Got To Say - A superb opener which only just hints at the fresh but powerful sound of this great band. It begins with acoustic guitar, bass and drums before a more powerful, Razorlight-esque guitar comes in. Both Billy and Charlotte have powerful, if slightly unique voices that may take a bit of getting used to for some people. However, together, they form a beautiful pair of vocal chords. This is a great song. - 9/10

2 - Holiday - A standard rock song with nice guitar work, hard drumming and well placed bass. Billy's singing is as powerful as ever and the lyrics he supplies to our ears are brilliant. This is probably one of the heaviest songs on the album. Josh's energetic drumming is ever present while Charlotte offers her unique voice as backing vocals. As I said at the start, this track is fairly standard yet slightly different. - 6/10

3 - Rock & Roll Queen - One of my favourite songs on the album, this is a slight variation of the sound that The Subways give us. Great lyrics and a great beat that sounds quite like a song that the great Oasis would give us. The guitar takes a more minimal role on this track while the bass and drums practically continue throughout. A down point is the fact that Billy's voice may drone on for some people. However, this is excellent stuff. - 9/10

4 - Mary - The first example of The Subways' more acoustic sound. A sound that I feel is actually far more superior than the electric sound they've mainly concentrated on. Perhaps it's because their studio stuff sounds naturally live, and using acoustic guitars gives a nice change to their heavier electric guitar work. That, and the fact that the guitar goes well with Billy's voice. However, this song is fast paced, much like the rest of the album. The lyrics have some clever rhyming in them and this song is a definite foot-tapper. - 8/10

5 - Young For Eternity - Heavy drums and a great guitar and bass intro. This song is a cracker. Billy's voice is rough but ready, supplying us with decent lyrics. A minute and a bit into the song gives us a really nice guitar section. No slide, but a good grunge sound. This song could easily be the shortest on the album at a length of two minutes. That said, many of the tracks are short anyway. - 8/10

6 - Lines Of Light - The instantaneous singing sounds a lot more calmer and the instruments are more mellowed down. Billy and Charlotte's voices work well together as this beautiful (relative to this album) piece grows. My only moan is that this song is far too short, at 2:12. - 10/10

7 - Oh Yeah - The first song of theirs that I ever heard….only it was an acoustic version that I got from their website. Energetic and enjoyable are two words that describe this rockier version of this song. The chorus is really catchy, despite its simplistic lyrics, and the instruments are exceptionally played. Probably my favourite track of this whole album. This is a true definition of what The Subways give us. - 10/10

8 - City Pavement - Another instantaneous intro leads us into another song that sounds like it's been delivered by Oasis. In fact, you would be forgiven for saying "Is this Oasis?" if you didn't hear the voices! Billy's singing is very much in the style of Liam Gallagher while Charlotte almost gives us a female Liam Gallagher, not that he'd be pleased about it! Not really a head-banger or foot-tapper but still a worthwhile track. - 6/10

9 - No Goodbyes - Another acoustic intro of another fine song. More Supergrass than Oasis while the guitar sounds reminiscent to that of REM. The lyrics are great and well delivered. Although it's not the best singing voice, Billy does a good job at being a vocalist. The chorus is another catchy one that is well worth singing along too. A great foot-tapper. - 8/10

10 - With You - More rough vocals and heavy guitars start this song off. A good head-banging tune that you don't get nowadays without listening to underground death-grunge-doom-apocalyptic-metal. ;-) This song mellows out halfway through and still sounds as good as it did at the start. This is a great song to get into and the lyrics a wonderful, despite their energetic delivery. We also hear a rare bit of higher pitched guitar from Billy which has a great sound. A good song. - 9/10

11 - She Sun - Yet another acoustic intro that sounds like the start to Bowie's "Space Oddity" for a little while. Vocally, I would put it down to taste. Billy's voice may seem to drone for some again, whilst others will love its desperate sound. This is a slower, calmer track as we near the end of the album. A good song but not particularly memorable. - 7/10

12 - Somewhere/Encore: At 1 AM - This song sounds deceptively heavy at its introduction. It soon calms down for the verse before going back in the heavy section. It progresses like this throughout. At first, I was concerned that calm singing sections wouldn't work with the heavier interludes, but it actually works very well. There is a break in the song, where it quietens down completely, slowly rising up towards the climax of this longer (four minutes) track. This is a surprisingly great finisher which leaves you lusting for more. Let's hope we see more in the form of a second album! - 9/10

COVER

The cover to the album is a nice, attractive one. Completely red, it shows a paper cut-out of a tree being folded over to cast a shadow. See as pictured.

OVERALL

The Subways are evidently a great band with a good future ahead of them provided they can follow up this quality. Their sound may not be to everybody's taste but I suggest you at least give this album a listen to. It really does grow on you if you like this style of music and is a worth-while buy and definately worth a listen. 

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