Wall of Arms is the second studio album by the English indie band The Maccabees, released on 4 May 2009. The album was preceded by the single "Love You Better" on 27 April. The LP was produced by Markus Dravs, who has collaborated with Björk, Arcade Fire and Coldplay in the past. Wall of Arms was also worked on in various cities including Liverpool and Paris, unlike their first long-player which was recorded in "dribs and drabs" according to frontman Orlando Weeks. The video to the album's first official single, "Love You Better", was uploaded exclusively to ClashMusic.com on 27 March ahead of a 27 April release. A review on the same website reads: "The Maccabees have made sure that no listener is going to leave the experience not feeling touched in some way – by the tonal dexterity, the lyrical openness, or something that’s not so obvious until the third or fourth listen." The album leaked on 26 April 2009. The album's cover art was created by British artist Boo Ritson, using her technique of coating her subjects with high gloss emulsion and photographing the result.

Reception

Many professional critics have said that this album, especially the track "No Kind Words", shows a much darker and evolved sound than former album Colour It In: Inevitably, comparisons were drawn to Arcade Fire's album Neon Bible, since Markus Dravs produced and used similar techniques on both records:

Track listing

All tracks by The Maccabees

iTunes extended version tracks

Singles

Personnel

Credits adapted from Tidal. The Maccabees Technical Additional musicians