Review: Futures - The Karma Album

 There's pretty much no argument to the fact that London quartet Futures are band going places. Their debut mini album The Holiday was packed with sweet pop rock anthems with the power that could allow them to dominate stadiums thanks to the sheer levels of ambition, energy and total enthusiasm that could be heard in every note played. They've gotten big in ways that are more notable than the quality of their music as well, with songs appearing on various television shows like Hollyoaks, Coronation Street and Emmerdale. Okay, not necessarily good TV shows but TV shows nonetheless. Their debut full length The Karma Album has seen some delay following the band's decision to leave Mercury Records, surely a sign that shows the band's willingness to fight on.

 While the band's actions display a determination to fight on, the music itself really doesn't give the band's actions justice. It's a shame because I really want to view the band's rise as evidence of total positivity in the world of mainstream rock but with such flimsy rock songs on offer that just have a standstill performance, I can't really.

 Like Feeder, Futures prove themselves to be a band reliant on big hooks in their songwriting to leave any kind of impact and the bursts of pure positive ecstasy displayed on the likes of Islands In the Sun and Today We Had Love shows that they are more than capable in penning a song in the manner of many of the alt rock bands that are tearing up the UK rock scene right now but that's really the high points of the album but ultimately when you hear the likes of Million Lights and The Rescue, the best that Futures can achieve is sounding like a watered down Biffy Clyro or Idlewild.

 You can be cynical towards bands that rely on hooks to achieve any kind of impact and Futures honestly deserve this because there is little signs of life flowing across the album. Many critics have been coming up with Snow Patrol comparisons to describe the lackluster efforts of the bands, but honestly when you hear songs like Start a Fire, Karma Satellite and Say My Name, they frankly make Snow Patrol sound like The Dillinger Escape Plan. By the time the attempts of filling their simple alt rock hooks with jangly britpop backdrops and totally forgettable acoustic anthems, one may actually be reminded of the efforts from that other alt rock band from London that were set to go places Ivyrise. And they went far right? They're still extremely relevant right? Are they even still together?

 Honestly, going through songs like We Had It All is so boring that it took me a fair amount of time to realise it was actually playing and I spent some time browsing through Memebase to keep myself from losing my mind, checked out how things were going in the Euro 2012 final and I hate football, checked to see if anything new has happened with Randy Blythe and spent time thinking about going to listen to the new Capture the Crown song Ladies and Gentlemen... I Give You Hell which will satisfy your electronica/metalcore needs. They don't really need plugging, they've had millions of Youtube views but I've seen little actual press. Sorry, I was really looking for some stuff to do rather than sitting around in boredom.

 So, Sad as it is, the efforts of Futures has unleashed my harsher thoughts in reviewing once more. While they can make solid songs with poppy hooks, there's so little that makes this release significant or exciting in any way. Certainly, there are lots of bands in the vain of Futures gaining much respectability but those bands play with so much more life and enthusiasm in them. There is nothing on The Karma Album that you couldn't hear being better executed by Twin Atlantic or Deaf Havana. Futures? They have none! Hahahahahahaha!!! Maybe that was a bit harsh, but the room for improvement is certainly expansive.

Future's The Karma Album is out now via Indigo. The band will tour the UK from tomorrow with Don Broco and Natives.