I can't pretend to know much about the 1980s seeing as I was only 5 when they ended, but I think I know about them enough to know that Action Action are quite a few years behind the rest of Victory Records' bands.
Opening with 'Smoke And Mirrors', Action Action's 'An Army Of Shapes Between Wars' sound like Depeche Mode having an after school snog with Adam Ant. I'm not totally sure who this throwback music will appeal to; the teenage scene kids are too hung up on Hawthorne Heights to know when the 1980s was whilst the 30 year olds are trying too hard to be cool by buying the Kaiser Chiefs. The one thing that will appeal is the artwork of the album, an almost Tim Burtonesque sketch of what looks like a Blythe doll. I have no idea what connection this has with the album, if it has any at all, but it completely throws any idea you had of what you thought the band would sound like when you put their CD on for the first time.
'A Tornado; An Owl' is the best song the album has to offer with it's distinctly Smiths like opening feel before launching into an early '90s chorus. The rest of the tracks seem to merge into one, unfortunately turning into one big irritation on the ears. This is, apart from one song 'The Game' which sounds like a song Jimmy Nail may have recorded for a laugh. It's completely different from the rest of the album with it's easy going guitars and typically American vocals.
I've read more than one or two comparisons with The Killers but I can't see it myself; they're one hundred times more extreme than the softcore electronic feel of the most boring band known to man. It is nice to see a band who aren't copying every fashion surrounding the American music market but it's a shame they decided to copy a trend that was all too popular nearly two decades ago.
  
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