Young Guns - Echoes

Rating:

Young Guns fall foul of the alt-rock stagnation.

Young Guns new album Echoes tries to grab you in through opener ‘Bulletproof’ (not a cover of the La Roux banger) and at first, it seems decent with a relatively decent hook and frontman Gustav Wood’s vocals shining but on repeated listens the track falls flat. This is a recurring theme throughout the album, good at first but then falling flat.

For a band on their 4th album, one might expect something new to prevent their sound from becoming stale but Young Guns fall foul of the alt-rock stagnation that seems standard these days. Alas, it’s nothing new with the tracks blurring into one with the production sounding muddy. The only stand outs come in the form of the title track with its slightly pop-punk influenced chorus and fist in the air chorus and closer ‘Afterglow’ which builds into somewhat of a banger.

Whilst Young Guns may have achieved some success with their formula thus far, it’s going to tire out at some point and it’s starting to show. Josh Williams