Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating * * * *

Following on from their debut self titled album, Federal Charm have returned in the same dynamic style with the release of the just as blistering, just as deep down and Rock-filled exuberance called Across The Divide.

In the short time between albums there has been a shift, not a great one, nothing that might be noticed by the casual observer of such things but nonetheless a shift that is discernible and hugely agreeable. A change in the way that a very good band can be heard and the attitude of really hammering out the song with style and authority; this is the divide that has been breached and taken control of and it is worth every cent, dime, penny and pound to hear the result.

For the Greater Manchester band this may seen as just a progressive step, a movement into which is not only expected but humbly accepted by Nick Bowden, Paul Bowe, L. D. Morawski and Danny Rigg and given such temptation of music insight that the future, should they wish it to be, could easily fall along the same vaunted lines of the likes of Thunder, the Blues and the Rock working in a harmony that is both tremendously exciting but also graciously modest.

The difficult second album earns its nickname with might, with the thought of black days of writing nothing that makes sense and with chords and ideas that can break even the strongest of bands. This is not an issue for Federal Charm, the belief was certainly never in any question but the prospect perhaps for the fans may have been one of wary endeavour. Yet out of the gulf that Time plays its cards with, tracks such as Guess What, the excellent Hercules, Silhouette, God, Forsaken and the album closer of Walk Away (Time & Time Again) all make the second album quake with expectancy for a third and the potential that the four young men bring spills over, cascades and joins the rift together.

There is no divide, there is no wedge, just an album of very cool and well produced songs that split the senses apart like an atom giving birth to a whole new Universe in the beauty of enjoyable music; a smashing second album, one that really hits the spot.

Ian D. Hall