The label says
the Myriad are recommended if you like
Ours,
Interpol, and
Kent. True enough, but they're dancing around the more obvious point: these guys are really recommended if you like
Coldplay, which is another way of saying that they're recommended if you like
U2. The comparison is impossible to avoid, especially on such anthemic fare as "When Fire Falls," and even more especially every time singer Jeremy Edwardson really starts feeling the spirit and opens his throat up wide. None of this is a criticism, really; sounding like
U2 is quite an accomplishment, given that
U2 have done one or two stints as the World's Greatest Rock & Roll Band. But it's also not a completely unreserved recommendation, since there's already a perfectly good
U2 out there with a nice, deep catalog. If you're looking for reasons to give these guys your attention, then do it for the multi-layered and really brilliantly arranged guitar parts and the unabashed religious devotion of the lyrics, which are custom-made for an audience that always found
U2 just a bit too coy in their proselytizing. Recommended. ~ Rick Anderson