total bummer (the telephones - SUPER HIGH TENSION!!!)

the telephones - SUPER HIGH TENSION!!!

Why you'll love it: High energy, dumb fun

Why you'll hate it: No so many great songs

Of course this would happen.  Disco rockers, the telephones has been slowly creeping into my circle of trust for years.  You can look back on my reviews dating back to 2009.  My thoughts on telephones have all had a main positive to them: loud, fun, crazy, enjoyably stupid; but always the position that perhaps this is all a guilty pleasure, or wont last.  My progression of thought for each album has gone - "Well, the bubble is certainly going to burst on the next one." / "Ok, somehow they managed to do the same thing EVEN BETTER." / "OK, they've changed thing up just enough to keep it fresh..." / "Alright fine, I admit it, this band is great!" Laugh, Cry, Sing... And Dance!!! climbed pretty far up my top ten of 2013.  It's about time I just shut up and enjoy the telephones.  Then comes SUPER HIGH TENSION!!!...

In many ways, SUPER HIGH TENSION!!! is exactly what I always secretly expected the telphones to become; an underwhelming version of themselves.  While there are still a few great tunes on here, they all have a "...but" qualifier, and are outnumbered by mediocre tracks.  "Take Me Higher" and "Hyper Jump" kick off the album with a ton of firepower, but lack any unpredictable moments, or their trademark wacky humor.  Some enjoyment i get out of them are accidental, in how much the songwriting lacks innovation.  The vocal melodies are sung directly over the main beats.  What it essentially sounds like are when you were a kid making up words and singing them over the music to Sonic The Hedgehog and Megaman stages.  Yes, the way most of SUPER HIGH TENSION!!! is composed is not unlike "Barkerville"

The only song in here with that overt tongue-in-cheek telephones humor is the 80s influenced "Don't Stop The Move , Keep On Dancing!!!" (a single released last year).  A couple more hard-hitting songs litter the tracklist, but just don't have that ridiculousness to make them special.  There is an abundance of ham fisted ballads as well, which Akira Ishige's broken English delivery does nothing for.  SUPER HIGH TENSION!!! closes out as most telephones album do, with a buttery goodbye that never quite hits the mark.

This is the telephones' worst album by far.  It feels hastily thrown together, and lacks character.  This hasn't soured me on past releases though.  I gotta give credit to this band for slowly working their way into my heart.  Their past three albums have been good damn fun, top to bottom.