Sonoma State Star

Issue date: 10/7/08 Section: Arts and Entertainment

The Cold War Kids are growing up, but they haven't hit puberty quite yet.

When the Californian band released their debut album "Robbers and Cowards" in 2006, they were a big hit with their intense live shows, but music critics were split about the quality of their recorded material.

"Loyalty to Loyalty," the bands sophomore effort, is getting the same reaction already.

While the album definitely goes in a new direction for the band, critics are strongly divided.

"The band continues to stubbornly emphasize their weaknesses," criticizes Pitchfork Media, but Paste Magazine approvingly points out, "The Kids push their bare-bones abilities pretty damn close to epic proportions."

Love them or hate them, you can see the Cold War Kids are trying their hardest to experiment and surpass their former album.

"Loyalty to Loyalty" tries to incorporate some jaunty piano, while lead singer Nathan Willet's distorted whines try to emulate Radiohead's Thom Yorke. Matt Maust's bass resounds hauntingly throughout the album while Matt Aviero's drums and Jonnie Russell's guitar make a tightly constructed mess.

The experimentation doesn't always pay off though, especially in tracks like the album opener "Against Privacy," a bohemian mantra that merely meanders along at a snail's pace.

Things start to pick up with "Mexican Dogs", but the album doesn't really start to get stomping until the album's single, "Something is Not Right with Me".

Willett barks at listeners, screaming, "Something is not right with me/How was I supposed to know?"

While the single isn't as radio friendly as their previous hit "Hang Me Up to Dry," it's sure to be a raucous crowd pleaser.

The middle of the album includes some gems like "Welcome to the Occupation" with some Strokes inspired bass lines, tambourine, and a hint of African drumming.

"Golden Gate Jumpers" is an evocative track about the many suicides that occur on the Golden Gate Bridge. It's here that Willet's lyrics are at his most morbid as he sings, "Water pulls you under/Back to the womb once again/Bodies float to the shore..."

The problem is that everything is thrown together in incredibly haphazard fashion, under cutting some great songs on the record.

The Cold War Kids are all over the map on this album, which is evident on the bizarre electronica and falsetto of "Relief."

It's passable, but just barely. The track is about natural disasters with a mind of their own, "Earthquake in your pajamas/Huddled in doorways/While your houses sway/Blue blood pumping/Like a hunter's fist…" but doesn't really fit in with the low-key portions of the album.

Continued...

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