Amusement Parks On Fire – All The New Ends EP
Amusement Parks On Fire seem to enjoy releasing records and then sending them to me half a year later for review consideration. I’m not complaining. I just wonder how much I can help them with a six-month interval. I recall a tweet after our review for last year’s Our Goal To Realise along the lines “better late than never”. Well, ditto that. Right back at you boys. I don’t quite know where they’ve been, but it’s great to have APOF back following the lengthy hiatus after Road Eyes and the band have found an apt home on the ace Saint Marie Records. All The New Ends is the second single/EP of new material from the Nottingham act since their comeback.
The sleeve also features another hand. Answers on a postcard to….
Speaking of Nottingham, am I the only one to find that constantly surprising? APOF have always sounded so American to me. Our Our Goal To Realise review piece name-checked Swervedriver (Editor: British though) and Teenage Fanclub (Editor: also British). On All The New Ends I hear plenty of the same: accessible ‘gazer fare. Ride perhaps? (Editor: Can I see you in my office first thing tomorrow morning.) Even grunge behemoths Sugar (haha). The lead track is the strongest here without quite matching the hook of Our Goal To Realise. However I like the blazing ‘Temporal Rise’, which segues seamlessly right afterward and sounds like an extended coda. ‘Infernal Flame’ is the 12-minute psych trip that ends the EP (and possibly some gigs, here’s hoping).
More than proving they have another terrific album within them.