The Rifles are from the UK (no rocket science degree needed there, you can tell right away from their accents; "Winter calls" becomes "Winter cools"). I think it was rather daring of them to name their album "The great escape" knowing full well fellow Brits Blur had a smash album with that title.
Musically, they fall into the Kaiser Chiefs or The Jam bracket, and I find lead singer Joel Stoker vocals reminds me of the Arctic Monkey's Alex Turner's somewhat.
The music? Incredibly catchy mostly raucous sing-alongs. The afore mentioned "Winter calls" is a bouncy clap-filled song. Just as bouncy and sunny is "Romeo & Julie" (think "Walking on sunshine" by Katrina and the Waves). Opening cut "Science is violence", the title track "The great escape" (with its booming beats and chiming guitars), and "Fool to sorrow" (with its "Whoo Oh Oh"s) are Kaiser Chiefs-style rockers.
The beautiful "The general" has a minute long intro and a great sing-along chorus. "Out in the past" has a nice chiming minute-long intro. The albums lone ballad comes at the end, the stripped "For the meantime" (which reminds me at its start of Björk's "It's oh so quiet") with just guitar and sweeping strings. My favourite song though is "History", incredibly addictive and sounding like something by fellow Brits Hard-Fi. You'll be singing along to this for ages!
Their sound may not be groundbreaking or original, but it is well done. At 11 tracks clocking in just under 40 minutes, the songs fly past pretty fast. If you (like me) love British Rock, this should be right up your alley.
