Editors
An End Has A Start

With this second album, the Editors try to make a small move forward compared to before.

We are dealing with a band that certainly knows its stuff and had already made a name for itself with the successful debut "The Back Room." However, here the influences are broadened, and the veil of darkness and those black and white snapshots dissolve, revealing glimpses of light that gradually color the day.

To support my thesis, we have "Smokers Outside The Hospital Doors", a piece that already hints at the change in direction with its emphatic and majestic mood, in which vocalist Tom Smith and his distinctive warm and deep tone fit perfectly. An anthem of joy that explodes into a delightful chorus.

The title track "An End Has A Start" instead seems straight out of the first album with its dark atmospheres, where rainbows and the blue sky suddenly disappear, and one is catapulted into a fantastic nightly spiral. In short, the Editors play their best cards right at the start, leaving the last ace for later in the work.

"Weight Of The World" slips away without offering too many thrills compared to the previous ones, while the following "Bones" pairs with the title track, keeping the same discussion made earlier for the latter.

The central part of the album opens with a decent "When Anger Shows", a fresco where Tom and company open new doors and windows, letting a spring sun into the house. But the fireworks arrive with "The Racing Rats" (here's the third shot fired), a spectacular lethal mix of tasty guitar riffs (courtesy of Tom Smith and Chris Urbanowicz) that provide the framework and a bouncy piano on which Mr. Smith's performance rises again, reaching a climax in a truly epic and engaging refrain.

We need to slow down, 600m we exit the highway, downshift, regain calm, wipe away sweat, and here comes the slow "Push Your Head Towards In The Air", a semi-acoustic composition enriched by violins.

The guitars return to be heard, and distant echoes of U2's "Escape The Nest" arrive, "Spiders" changes register, followed closely by the intimate and reflective "Well Worn Hand", which sees the flamboyant frontman sitting on a stool in his room, intent on playing the piano.

The journey is over.

I have listened to this album many times, and it wasn't easy to arrive at a definitive and unanimous judgment right away. The album certainly boasts some great tracks that will wreak havoc live, but there are also some songs that are slightly less engaging. An otherwise heterogeneous album in which each song is suited to be listened to at different times of the day.

The advice is to try listening to "An End Has A Start" (at least for 7/10) during daylight hours rather than in the dark, perhaps gazing out or standing on the balcony at home.