Album Review: Sugar Army - Summertime Heavy

Three years ago Sugar Army dropped an album, The Parallels Amongst Ourselves, that promoted some of the most remarkable and exciting content to come out of Perth, placing them on the radar nationally. Since then, with the four-piece losing bassist Ian Berney to Birds Of Tokyo, it was fingers crossed about what the now-trio could produce with this new incarnation. But sure enough, after six weeks in Sydney at the mouth-watering (and now sadly defunct) Big Jesus Burger studios, they have in their hands a holy whopper of an album.

Lead single Hooks For Hands showcases the band's strength in bass grooves, hard hitting rhythms and big choruses, and along with tracks such as Will You Follow it brings to the table the thrill and intensity of the group's early EP work. An original take on an acoustic tune comes in title track Summertime Heavy as lead singer Patrick McLaughlin's way with words leads to numerous lyrical hooks. And whilst the majority of the album has a somewhat more upbeat feel, the darker, more haunting side of Small Town Charm is a highlight, with the exceptional percussion of Jamie Sher providing a show in itself.

If there were to be any criticisms, it is that Sugar Army have left less room for playing around, and the small elements of promising experiments in prog and ambience from Parallels... seem lost. But then again it goes to show how each song has been tweaked to perfection to ensure no filler; Summertime Heavy is as punchy and tight as it gets. Sugar Army have a way of making everything fall into place, and on the difficult follow-up, the results still amaze.