Now it seems every time I hype a previous album like that in a review, its bound to mean that the album itself is disappointing. Sadly, this is mostly true. 'Menos El Oso' (Minus the Bear in Spanish) is, for the most part, a considerably bland affair that doesn’t really go anywhere in its 11 tracks and 45 minute duration. On the other hand, the 'They make Beer Commercials like this' E.P had much more variation, influence of their earlier sound, and was obviously a lot shorter, this takes the general surface sound of that E.P and sprawls it out into a whole album. It is, on the face of it, an utter drone of what sounds like a band that has been surfing far too much and has lost all the energy out from a once extremely refreshing and enjoyable sound. Worse still is the fact that Jake Snider's vocals now are fairly monotonous and has been over produced to the point of sounding generic.

But this is all a tad harsh. The fact is there are still some fantastic lyrics and some very technical guitar lines to appreciate here. Opener, ‘The Game Needed Me’, may sound very obscure, but the guitar work and lyrics that accompany it are still just as smart as their earlier work, and, if you are in a very relaxed mood, say a Sunday afternoon when the sun is blasting out, this album is near-perfect. The difference is, though, that some ambient music, like DJ Shadow, keeps you on your toes and interested, while sedating you at the same time; it gives you something to enjoy while you chill out. All this album does is makes you relaxed to the point that you fall into a coma: there’s very little to keep you interested.

It’s a real shame, considering just how good their last album was. I expected a lot more from a band that showed the potential to become one of the biggest and best of our time. Disappointingly, this is just a drone from one end to the other that goes nowhere. But there’s still a lot left in this band and here’s hoping they can turn it around for album number 3.

Adam Turner-Heffer