Customer Reviews

An Army Of Shapes Between Wars

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4 star:		(0)
3 star:		(4)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

Easily my favorite album of 2006 so far. Possibly too layered & with too much depth for the "scene kids" that want My Chemical Romance and/or Fall Out Boy rehashes. Pretty much perfect from beginning to end and made to be listened to as such...as a complete album. Listen to it all the way through a few times and tell me there isn't amazing talent and originality all over the place. Give Action Action a chance and I'm pretty sure you'll find something worthwhile.

What do you get from the remains of The Reunion Show, Count The Stars, and Diffuser? Why, you get the dark yet melodic Action Action! In 2004, this Long Island quartet released their debut album, "Don't Cut Your Fabric To This Year's Fashion," on Victory Records, and it went on to sell 50,000 copies. So after extensive touring and having their first set of demos for the new record stolen, Action Action has released to us their second album off of Victory, titled "An Army Of Shapes Between Wars," a 13 song melodic voyage through new wave, electronica, and chainsaw guitars. This time around the band added more layers of synths, strings, and programming to compliment the raucous drumming and solid guitars from the previous album. The end result is an album that has a lot of fun, yet lacks the lasting power to be a permanent listen in my iPod.

The album begins with "Smoke And Mirrors" sounding like you just woke up from a dream, then you are hit the face with a buzzing `80's electronica vibe. Kluepfel uses his vocals to make this track sound very British. "Chemical Frustration" combines the synths with the bouncy drumming of Leo, thus making this song a fun toe-tapper. "Sleep Paralysis" is a fast song with slight dark undertones from the rest of the instruments. "The Game" is the first single off of the album, and the intro of this song blatantly reminds me of an old Weezer song. "Paper Cliché" begins with a simple pulsating beat that backs up Kluepfel's depressing vocals. The chorus of this song is very exceptional; it's very hard-hitting after the slow beginning and very catchy. "120 Ways To Kill You: An Illustrated Children's Book" has an organ vibe to it in the beginning, but this song just drags on for too long and it reminds me too much of the Killers. "What Temperature Does Air Freeze At?" is a cute song that again would be better if they cut off 2 minutes or so from this track. Thankfully, the album picks up with "The Other 90% Of The Iceberg," which is very riveting and the guitars definitely shine on this track. "Analogue Logic" has a huge `80's new wave vibe to it, with thick synths and upbeat drumming. It's a fun song, but can become annoying after a few listens. The final track of the album "The Blanket Truth" is a fine ballad, mixing ambience with melody, but it can turn boring after a while because of the length. It also doesn't help that the song ends with about 6 minutes of the same dreary sound that began the album. It really ends the album on a boring note.

In the end, this Army has good intentions, but falls short at the end. While we get a good share of catchy tracks, most of them offer very little lasting power (minus "Paper Cliché" and "The Other 90% Of The Iceberg, which are the two great tracks on the album). At times, this album can drag, but other times it is a really fun record to dance to. If you are looking for something deep and lasting, this isn't for you. But if you want to have a good time and get a good beat stuck in your head, or you're a fan of `80's new wave/electronica, then "An Army Of Shapes Between Wars" would be a fine pickup. So while this is not the "new masterpiece" that Victory has been promoting, it is still a solid record that shows a lot of potential for the future.

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Action Action is a band that you hate or love.. The singers voice is somewhat unique and the lyrics are dark also unique. The style of music is electronica, Kinda indie, and a lil bit of a retro 80's sound..I love synth so this is the main reason for buying both cd's this band has out...
Great songs include:
Paper Cliche
The Game
What temperature does air freeze at
This is is a great cd over all i believe better than "dont cut your fabric"

While other bands of their alleged genre play it safe and end up sounding like each other to a depressing degree, Action-Action isn't afraid to strike out into its own musical territory, and you have to admire that. Yes, they have influences and sometimes they wear those influences on their sleeve. But those influences seem to come from a deeper, more real, more important, more heartfelt place than their competition. One thing that's clear from listening to this record is that those influences do NOT include The Killers or Interpol. Depeche Mode? Maybe. But not so much that they copy them. It's just dumb marketing hype that their record company decided to sticker their record with the names of those other bands. Don't let them hype you. What's good about Action-Action is that they are NOT like those bands. There is a definite sense of risk taking on this CD. They can wander, they can go one and on, they can make noise, they can be sensitive, they can be poppy, they can be loud and nasty or they can be cute. But they never play it safe. And in this day of prepackaged sound-alike bands, it's their fearless musicality that stands out. This band deserves an audience, and if it's not the Killer's or Interpol's audience, that's to their credit.

I cannot believe they topped their first album. That was greeeaaattt, but this one is even better. Talk about retro. I'm having 80's flashbacks. I love these guys. They do what they do well, and they do it with STYLE!ONE OF THE BEST CD'S PUT OUT THIS YEAR!!!! IT WON'T COME OUT OF MY CD PLAYER FOR A LOOOOOOG TIME!!!!!!! YOU HAVE TO BUY IT TO BELIEVE ME, THEY MAKE THE KILLERS SEEM LIKE MICHEAL JACKSON! see there is your PROOF, now GET UP OFF THE COUCH AND go buy IT and tell ME what you think?

Action Action are back on the map with their sophomore album, An Army of Shapes Between Wars. This album recalls the heyday of 80's synth pop while holding onto a melancholy that bands like The Cure and even Depeche Mode evoked. Don't run out buying this album thinking you're going to hear the next ""Enjoy the Silence"" or even ""Personal Jesus"" as this album is much more dance beat driven than moody. The band manages to balance the use of guitar and synth well throughout the disc but leave themselves out in the cold when it comes to an audience. The album finds itself smack between a synth album and an indie rock album, both in the British sense. I would sooner equate them to Interpol than The Get Up Kids and that's not saying they sound like either! Synth rock fans will be disappointed by half the songs on here, such as ""The Game"", and indie rocks fans will probably not be as much a fan of the other half, i.e. ""Chemical Frustration."" All in all, a solid effort that perhaps needs to focus more on a definitive sound and less on the eclectic. For Fans of: The Faint, The Bravery, Depeche Mode

i forgot about action action making a new cd,i didn't check up on that since october.i was shocked to find out that it was being released today,so instead of being a moron,i downloaded the cd from limewire.

i had really high expectations of this cd,the last one didn't leave my stereo for 5 months.

summary : there were 5 or 6 filler songs on "don't cut your fabric...",the only songs that are worth your listen are Paper Cliche and 120 Ways to Kill You- An Ilustrated Children's Book.Don't Shoot the Messenger and Smoke and Mirrors are ok.the rest shouldn't even be mentioned.

just another example why you should stop wasting money on cd's with only a few good songs.

Once again Victory Records molds another great band into conformity! Their lyrics are EXTREMELY cliche and the sound is way too overproduced. Don't be fooled by this poor attempt at music. Get their first CD which is actually worth listening to. You will notice the difference.

I bought this cd not knowing anything about the band but a friend had bought their last cd ("Don't Cut Your Fabric....) and raved about them. After listening to the cd in it's entirety my conclusion is that Action Action are trying to be a cross between Depeche Mode, The Cure and maybe a touch of Elvis Costello. I didn't care for the singer's phoney English accent (I believe the band is from Chicago) and his voice gets annoying real fast. There really weren't any songs that I liked. For lovers of today's new groups that have the retro eighties sound I would suggest Franz Ferdinand, The Bravery, The Killers and The Kaiser Chiefs instead of Action Action.

OK, so a lot of people are comparing this to 80s synth pop, etc. etc. I'm going to be upfront and say I've never heard of those things. I like good, catchy rock music, and when I heard some cool Action Action singles I said, what the heck, and bought their last two CDs.

At first, I was like, wow, this stuff is cool and original (and maybe only original because the horror synth melodies are so old they're new). On the faster songs Action Action really succeeds. The music is cool to dance to and fun to listen to. The songs kind of start to sound the same after awhile, but the novelty of the neat "Adams family"-type synth openings combined with decent guitar riffs and a catchy melody was enough to keep me interested...until the slow songs mid-album.

On the slow songs, Action's Action's non-versatality and the annoying, whiny voice of the singer starts to show through. The melodies are tired, cliche, old, and that would be OK if the loud, obnoxious lead voice didn't make you want to tear your eyes out. The whiny, abrasive quality of it is ok in an upbeat song, but dragged out over a "ballad" and wow. Your ears will cry.

I think overall the album was a mixed bag. About half of the songs (the fast ones) were fun to listen to and great dance charts, but then the other half just reveals the album for what it is, which is another alt rock band with a lead singer with an annoying voice and no talent for coming up with an original riff. I thought overall the fist album had more charm than this one, but Action Action is just "okay". It would make a good concert and nice background music at a Halloween party, but overall, not something I'll pull out a year from now and jam to while I do my homework.