Gravelly guitars hooks, simple, yet addictive drum beats, and strong and harsh vocals, combine in the form of Future of the Left, to deliver a mixed sophomore effort with “Travels with Myself and Another”. But personally, I think they still have potential for further musical development.

The album opens with the brilliant “Arming Eritrea”, the appeal of which lies in the rhythms of the verse, and the somewhat higher chorus.

Unfortunately, after the strong start, any now established expectations concerning the rest of the album are left to wither. Not completely though. Don’t take that the wrong way. There are other good songs on “Travels…”. But after the amazing start it’s hard to hide the disappointment that nothing else really holds up to “Arming Eritrea”. Hardly unsurprising considering how good the song is, but I’m just saying it how I hear it. “Drink Nike” and “That Damned Fly” both reach highly however.

Overall “Travels with Myself and Another” has a few standout songs, but the others just seem to fit in-between. A few great songs around a bunch of merely okay ones. Mostly stable in regards to it’s overall feeling, it will please some immensely, but I think Future of the Left have the potential to really create a more consistently good album.

Score: 5/10

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Edit: It’s November 23, 2012, and reading this back I cringe. It’s a poorly written review (everyone starts somewhere though and it was one of my first), but I just want to say, my opinion of this album has drastically changed since. It’s worth much more than a 5. Check it out.