Reverend & The Makers coast in with their first full length release “The State Of Things’ on the back of their singles “Heavyweight Champion Of The World’ and ‘He Said He Loved’ for fans of these offerings there will be little to disappoint. A collection of twelve anthems for the common man so to speak celebrating the mundane fates of modern society yet at the same time sprinkling a little bit of hope for those who dare to aspire to something more than getting tanked up and leathered on a Saturday night. It works as well, the subject matter might be grim and have the distinctly Sheffield autobiographical/observational stance that bands like Pulp and The Arctic Monkeys have already brought to the fore.
Both ‘The State Of Things’ and ‘The Machine’ could easily bode well for future single releases and the aforementioned ‘Heavyweight Champion..’ must surely be a contender for one of the year’s best single releases. Lyrically John McClure might have scored big with this release but I suspect following it up might be something of a difficult prospect because as they say lightning doesn’t strike twice. Musically the band are mined from some of the best players the city has to offer and between them they have all been known commodities in the past (ex Seafruit and Hoggboy refugees to name but two bands that have given up members to form the Makers) and they are all on form here.
Occasionally lyrically the album falters as McClure tries to take the localised world view a little further afield but these moments are rare and as a whole this album is a must.
