Frank Turner - Poetry Of The Deed (Album Review)

I think its pretty fair to say that Frank Turner is one of the most hardest working musicians in the country, if not the hardest working! Three albums in three years and world wide tours in between, he's played about every venue in the uk TWICE and has become quite a hero in the underground scene. Following from two excellent records of passionate and emaculate country/folk/punk tunes comes his third full length which is very much in the same vein. Opening with the piano thumping pop-rock snarl of 'Live Fast Die Old', this gives us hope that Frank is returning to his rockier routes ( after all he was the front man of British hardcore heroes, Million Dead). The hope for a more rockier sound continues with the speedy country punk of 'Try This At Home', that seems to continue one of the lyrical themes that appears in a fair few Turner tunes; the music industry and the people in it; "theres no such thing as rockstars theres people that just play music, and some of them are just like us, and some of them are dicks!" The rest of the record runs like the Frank's previous efforts, big melodies with big choruses to match. Examples of this include the upbeat rock-pop tones of the title track and the brilliant country shuffle of lead single 'The Road'. Another trate of Frank Turner records is his love of the 'slow jam', y'know taking things down abit....And on this record tracks such as 'Isabel' and the beautiful 'Fastest Way Back Home' are amongst some of Frank's best work with glorious harmonies backed by a passionate vocal delivery by Mr.T. Unfortunately, beyond the senstive acoustic tones of 'Faithful Son', the remaining tracks seem to lack the charm and melody of the rest of the record, but luckly because the rest of the record is so great, it seems to make up for some of these weaker moments, so all in all, a good effort Mr. Turner!

Rating: 7/10

Download: 'Try This At Home', 'The Fastest Way Back Home', 'The Road'.

'Poetry of the Deed' is released September 7th on Xtra Mile Records. The single 'The Road' is avaliable to download NOW!! check out www.myspace.com/frankturner for more information on his massive album touring, happening all around the UK in October!