Formed by the three members of At The Drive-In who didn’t become The Mars Volta (though guitarist Paul Hinojos jumped to that other ship in 2005), Sparta are more a continuation of their former band than their counterpart. This is unsurprising, as that was the reason the band was formed. However, the band have now developed into a band in their own right, stepping out of their self-imposed shadow.

Their first album for Anti-, Threes is an album that could easily have not been made. In 2005, frontman Jim Ward walked out halfway through a US tour and hid himself away to contemplate his future (this is also when Hinojos left the band, saying it “simply wasn’t fun anymore”). Eventually, Ward and the rest of the band (joined by Keeley Davis on guitar) rented a factory space in El Paso, Texas and began working on new material.

That feeling of returning renewed permeates this album. Though it is not without its dark lyrical subject matter, Threes feels like a very positive album and an album where the band feel more free to experiment. The rougher edges of their sound are still in evidence, particularly on songs like Crawl and Taking Back Control, but look elsewhere and you’ll find more of a U2 influence (Erase It Again and Atlas), while Translations wouldn’t be out of place on Radiohead’s OK Computer.

There are moments where the band risk becoming too poppy (False Start is a prime example) but, while these songs will appeal to a wider audience, Sparta retain enough of that punk edge to keep the old fans coming back. This album has “hit” written all over it.

Label: Anti-
Website: www.spartamusic.com
Release date: 30th April 2007

Tracklist:

1. Untreatable Disease
2. Crawl
3. Unstitch Your Mouth
4. Taking Back Control
5. Erase It Again
6. Atlas
7. The Most Vicious Crime
8. False Start
9. Weather The Storm
10. Red.Right.Return (Straight In Our Hands)
11. Without A Sound
12. Translations
13. Born And Buried