 | | Amplifier - Insider |
Somehow, the trio managed to bring that noise together into some semblance of style and identity for their excellent eponymous debut. Since then, they’ve released a swirling mini-album, The Astronaut Dismantles HAL, and now they’re back with second album proper, Insider. Any album that has someone credited as playing a typewriter on it is worth a listen, but for the most part, Amplifier seem to have lost their way. Theirs were never the most radio-friendly of tunes but on Insider, they have taken the aural sprawl past its limits. The problem is the songs lack boundaries. It’s not a case of a chorus-verse-chorus template needing to be pushed onto them, but they are like sails in a squall, reeling and flapping around their initial ideas without destiny. Indeed, the album is three songs in before a definable song actually raises its head. You can’t help but feel sorry for them, because when the ideas do come together, as on the title track’s metallic desperation or the riff-heavy Strange Seas Of Thought, there’s a glimpse of the brilliance that Amplifier could touch if only they had some self-discipline. | 
