Kids In Glass Houses Get Golden On New Release

Right off the bat, if you have listened to Kids In Glass Houses before, you may know them best for their catchy hooks and lyrics that have the potential to be screamed from rooftops. This album certainly doesn't disappoint.

In an interview with Kerrang! Magazine, vocalist Aled Phillips stated that the band were going in a 'radically different direction' and that it would be 'a concept record, a big, grown-up rock record.' He stated, "It's going to document a journey. I don't want to give too much away, but it's looking to be our most 'mature' album." The album was recorded with Jason Perry (McFly, The Blackout, Pussycat Dolls), as was their previous album.

“In Gold Blood is an album that discusses my own experience of life,” stated vocalist Aled Phillips at the bands latest press release. “I started to question how I had arrived at this point in my life, looking at the good and bad, the relationships and everything else that defines me now. I wrote about it all but I did so in a different context, I created an exaggeration of modern society, a completely depraved world where everyone has resorted to carnal desires and instincts, and placed all my thoughts in that world.”

The title track, Gold Blood, was released on 23rd May 2011 as a free download for four days. This was the first taste of the direction they were going in. Your first reaction will probably be to the rawness of the sound. This is due to the album being recorded live within studio. It was a brave thing to do, as in modern music, most of it is tracked separately and mixed together. Even the popular band My Chemical Romance take the more commercial route, stating that on their new album Danger Days: The True Lives of the Fabulous Killjoys, it would be the first time they would have played some of their new songs together when they got on tour.

In Teenage Wonderland, you are met by calmer, almost mournful vocals and gradually building drum beats, leading up to one of the most catchy 'teenage' anthems of today.

Diamond Days is intertwined with mentions of living forever and talking devils, started off by a synth introduction worth of a medal. Large choruses seem to be a reoccurring theme of this album from the start, and certainly this song is no exception.

Not In This World is aptly titled, since those words are repeated in many points in time during this song. Myself being lucky enough to attend Kids In Glass Houses' In Gold Blood release show on the 14th August, I got to hear what this song sounded like live. Although no one had heard it before, by the end, you could have sworn it was an old favourite by the way the fans sung along. Definitely a crowd pleaser.

The Florist melds innocence together in the instantly catchy singalong hook: “I remember the day the music died and left me wanting more, I remember the way my mother cried when daddy went to war.” A great live track, with opportunities for crowd participation and dancing aplenty.

Their second single from this album, Animals, was added to the official website on June 20 for streaming. The video to it was released on the RoadRunnerUK YouTube channel on 1st July, gaining huge popularity and many people to copy the vibrant face paint and make-up style portrayed within it.

Only The Brave Die Free starts off with a brass section just a little less up tempo than the one shown in For Better or Hearse (seen on their second album Dirt). Some critics have slammed them on the use of the brass, stating that "whoever’s brainwave it was to plump a brass fanfare in, right at the moment where it’s drowned out by everything else, should take a long and hard re-evaluation of their talents for basic music theory. Whatever your opinion is, you can't deny that you sung a long a little.

With the high pitched vocals on Annie May, this is definitely one track that you are not going to forget any time soon. It begs to be sung along with -whether you have to sing an octave lower on some occasions or not!

Fire is no doubt one of the softer tracks of the album, although it does take a while to get moving from quite a flamboyant introduction. The backing vocals pay a big part in the chorus, although when played live, that job would be naturally taken by the crowd with shouts of "Fire!" on everyone's lips.

Black Crush sees drummer Philip Jenkins working hard both on the choruses and verses to produce a distinctive skeleton, while the distortion on the guitars is unmissable and adds certain colour to this song that would not be there otherwise. If the band were looking for maturity, they've found it within this song.

As the saying goes, save the best 'till last. This statement is certainly true with A God To Many Devils. The vocals are at the forefront of this song, with the lyrics not more meaningful than the rest of the album, but sung in such a way that makes you really think about them.

All in all, this album sees Kids In Glass Houses move away slightly from their poppier roots seen in previous releases, but the change is not a bad one, as they adapt and produce something to be truly proud of.