Templeton Pek: New Horizons

Artist: Templeton Pek
Title: New Horizons
Format Reviewed: MP3
Format Released: 24th July 2015
Reviewed By: TJ McFaull

Get prepared to rip your sleeves off, throw beer at your friends and head bang yourself into a whiplashed mess... Templeton Pek are back and my word, is it with a bang!

Hailing from Birmingham, the fourth studio album from this hard-hitting three-piece is simply put, quite brilliant. The songs are thoughtful, all parts are perfectly executed and the production is some of the best this writer has heard in a while. 

With it's towering harmonies and guitar tone that could be from an early Black Flag album,' first track Skylines kicks the whole shebang off in a rather emphatic style. It's thoughtful, well structured and perhaps most importantly, incredibly well balanced. It's at this point though I begin to feel a little duped... On agreeing to review the new album I was assured they were a three-piece punk band, however as we the album progresses my suspicions are confirmed... These boys sound nothing like a three-piece punk band. In fact, their weird and wonderful blend of rock, screamo and punk, packs more of a punch than most five-piece bands in their genre. They use variations of pace and suspense incredibly well, all of which serve to make New Horizons one of the most entertaining albums I've heard in a while. 

As I made my way down the tracklist, a recurring thought was how, sonically, everything has just the right amount of space to let the listener appreciate the individual moments of brilliance peppered throughout. Prominently for me it really allowed some time to enjoy the guitar tone and composition of the tracks themselves. The rock and roll riffs are well accompanied by some powerful drums (see track four, the attention demanding Damage Control), but it's the commanding vocals that really give the listener a true sense of what this band is really all about. The harmonies are clear and cutting, the main vocals are assertive and heartfelt and if one was looking for a complaint (as one does...), it would be simply that there's no reason to sing in an American accent. Boys, you write great songs, be proud tell those stories in your own voices.

Another feather in the cap for Templeton Pek is their ability to maintain the energy levels in every song on the album, which in this case transpires to be eleven tracks of pure unbridled teenage angst. There's a genuine momentum to the album, one that makes it nigh on impossible to stop listening to once you've started. Again another slight criticism however would be that in a few places, the songs are a little similar, but when they're this good... who cares?! 

These guys have clearly been around the block a bit and if you have a brief look at their past accomplishments, it's easy to see where the maturity in their songs comes from. To give you some perspective of the experience within the band, they've played with the likes of Alkaline Trio, Bullet For My Valentine and even, wait for it, Sum41 (I know!). It's fitting that the band have decided to step their game up with this latest release and get it recorded at a world class facility: The Porch, California; and mixed with a top engineer Cameron Webb (who has notches in his belt with Motorhead, Pennywise and Sum41 written on...). Although they've been known for the successful DIY nature of the first two albums (No Association, 2008, and Scratches and Scars, 2011), a really impressive aspect of this album, is the production. Who knows, a couple more like this and they may well find themselves written into the annuls of time.

Now if you'll excuse me, I've said too many nice things for one day and I'm off to sharpen my pencil and get a ticket for one of their next shows, just to make sure they can do it live...