The Maccabees - Marks to Prove It

The Maccabees
Marks to Prove It
2015

The Maccabees 2012 album Given the Wild saw them take a step towards the large scale arena rock of Coldplay or Muse. The album was layer after layer of meticulously molded and remolded sound. The result? An album that was overdone, to large for it's own good and almost impossible to recreate in a live setting. Marks to Prove It is a step back to a more familiar sound, but it is about 10 steps ahead of anything from Given the Wild. The music is heartfelt and slimmed down, there is plenty of space for the record to fill a room (or arena for that matter) but it all is very organic and original. On a song like "Spit it Out" you can actually feel the band playing off each other right there in the room pushing each instrument and each voice forward rather than trying to re-create that same sound behind a computer screen. There are times when the tracks to have many different layers like on "River Song", but it never comes across as overblown or overwrought. Orlando Weeks' voice rarely soars or screams so when He does put some power behind a line you feel it even more, the impact is intensified.

"Slow Sun" is one of the best tracks on the record and also one of the most interesting musically. There are brass instruments backing a driving drum and piano only to be usurped by wailing guitars. The dower vibe that goes through the entire record is not so much of a downer but more like a place for the band to hang their ideas, a jumping off point to something more interesting. There is a case to be made that the album is a bit derivative of groups like The Smiths or Radiohead but to held in such high esteem as those groups is not really such a bad thing. There is an energy on Marks to Prove It that makes up for whatever fault you may find in it musically and it connects on a very visceral level. Marks to Prove It is the album the Maccabees should have made and hopefully it is the kind of thing they will continue to make in the future.

7.3 out of 10