There is a growing fashion which is ticking me off somewhat. Well, let’s be honest, it’s not that new but the pointless album intro “Theme” track is growing in its preponderance and Ed Hale has insisted on wasting nearly four minutes of my life with this albums Main Theme. Just get on with it man!

When he does (get on with it) this album bursts into life with Blind Eye quite a dark moody track with some cracking brass and wailing guitars. But then it’s immediately thrown at odds with Solaris, a much brighter almost pop track and Waiting For Godot that starts with that pseudo reggae beat that the Police mastered all those years ago before breaking into a guitar heavy rock track.

If you’re looking for an established theme here, then other than the reuse of the album title, you are not going to find one and if you do, then you are a better man than I; or more probably a more patient listener.

To prove my point, Here It Comes sounds like it was a filler on an early Travis album even by picking up on the late Beatles influences Travis utilised. In Indian Princess I swear Ed is trying to sound like an early David Bowie. It’s just all over the place. Now that isn’t always a bad thing when there’s the different influences of a band pulling music in slightly different directions when they get their individual way on separate tracks. But this is down to one man; The Transcendence, as far as I can gather, is a very loose band of New York regulars. I’ll lay money that this album was recorded over a period of months hence the varying styles and influences that come through.

Unfortunately, all those varying directions do not a good album make. It has its moments but they are few and too far between. If it’s your money you are spending, and hopefully your piggy bank will be bursting after Christmas, go spend it elsewhere or Mr Hale will certainly become a villain after being convicted of daylight robbery.

Reviewed by D-Jaysea.

Ed Hale and the Transcendence's album All Your Heroes Become Villains is available now from Amazon.