Snow Patrol A Hundred Million Suns UK CD album. Amazon.co.uk The Snow Patrol we meet on A Hundred Million Suns is a band facing the same dilemma that Coldplay met on 2008?s Viva la Vida or Death and All His Friends; having conquered the world with a rousing, melancholy brand of MOR indie, where now? On the surface, A Hundred Million Suns seems to suggest, nowhere especially new: producer Jacknife Lee, who first worked with the band on 2003's Final Straw and went on to work with the likes of U2 and REM returns to the fold; and an opening brace of songs suggest that a successful formula--chiming guitars, gentle builds, and Gary Lightbody's quavering, tremulous vocal--persists. Still, "Take Back The City", a windswept, electronic-tinged rocker, rather does for this band what "Dakota" did for Stereophonics, proving that a spot of sleek, synthetic motorik is not beyond their grasp, and there's a new, bright optimism to Lightbody's lyrics that sets the likes of "The Planets Bend Between Us" in light relief to some of Snow Patrol's earlier work. If you want experiment, though, you'll have to wait until the closing "The Lightning Strike", a 16-minute track in three parts that investigates Phillip Glass-style minimalism and electronic beats with some aptitude. --Louis Pattison Review In the epic trinity of stadium indie, Snow Patrol are the ghost; lacking both the sheer pomposity to challenge the all-powerful Coldplay and the catchy confidence to take on the often crucified Keane, they wisp about in the shadows, pushing out occasional strokes of excellence to remind the world they exist. A Hundred Million Suns is their rabble-rousing attempt to change that power structure - and they really have pulled out all the stops. Decamping to the Berlin studios used by David Bowie and Iggy Pop in the late 70s and teaming up once more with the increasingly influential producer, Jacknife Lee, they have pushed every ounce of their energies into breaking free of their 'also-rans' tag and proving that they really can write an entire album of brilliance, rather than just the occasional stunner. Inevitably, they have fallen short of such a goal - not through lack of trying but because they simply don't have the invention or imagination to be truly great. Most surprisingly, given the saving graces of Run, Chasing Cars, Chocolate and It's Beginning To Get To Me on their previous two albums, there are no truly stand-out tunes - the album simply melts into one long agreeable but unremarkable mass. That fact isn't helped by the lack of variety in their tunes. A Hundred Million Suns can be broken squarely into two camps - the moody indie brooders and the up-tempo gut-wrenchers. What's most annoying is that there are moments that could have been so much more fulfilling. The break of Crack The Shutters, for example, should have opened up an epic, rather than the drudge that follows it and the lo-fi minimalism of The Golden Floor could have revealed a Jose Gonzalez-like string to their bow, instead of the underwritten disappointment it actually gives. A Hundred Million Suns is so close to being brilliant, it ends up being more grating than if it had been awful. A little more adventure, a little more heroism and Snow Patrol could have produced something stunning; as it is, this is stadium indie revealed through a glass darkly, a solid but ultimately unsatisfying experience. --Chris Long This link will take you off Amazon in a new window