Express & Star

Maximo Park, Risk To Exist - album review

Maximo Park have been one of those noughties bands that managed to persevere past the usual three-album mark and still make music relevant and exciting.

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Unfortunately, on this occasion - record number six - the autopilot button has been pushed and Risk To Exist fails to live up to previous productions.

In 2015, vocalist Paul Smith fronted another band called The Intimations and released a breezy, poppy record called Contradictions which oozed fresh purpose and a carefree nature of somebody discovering a new direction.

This Maximo record smells the same way, but with the whole band back together they have injected some of the funk that has made previous records such a fun-filled hit. On occasions it works. But at other times it feels shoehorned and forced, and it often feels like the band are coasting and the leash is being kept on.

But the positives to start; when it does work it is wonderful.

What Did We Do To You To Deserve This? carries all the scratched guitars and groovy bass of a Maximo hit. Lending a lot to Paul Smith & The Intimations for its underlying funk feel, it jives nicely from start to finish.

The single Get High (No, I Don't) follows the same pattern, but with a hint of danger fused into the sing-along chorus that harks back to the days when Scottish lads Franz Ferdinand were regularly gracing the charts.

But other songs from this Geordie four-piece fail to inspire. The title track is just a partially annoying jumble of sounds mixed together almost piece-meal in a musical blender.

There are also tracks that do little wrong, but just fail to leave a lasting impression. Work And Then Wait is an example of this, as its crescendo approach fails to deliver a grandstand finish to sing about. That coasting feeling is in full swing.

But rather than fade to a squib, final tracks Respond To The Feeling and then Alchemy provide a nice punch with their staccato percussion to make this more than just a first few tracks victory fading into obscurity.

Maximo Park play Birmingham's O2 Institute on Friday, May 5, before returning to the second city on September 15 to play the Beyond The tracks 2017 festival.

6 out of 10

By Leigh Sanders

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