"My Passion, quite simply, could be massive...."

Those were my cultured words back in 2008 when reviewing the band's two-track 'Boo Man' release for the Glitzine website. The (then) four piece looked awesome, had a seemingly endless line of young girls wearing their cool merch and appeared to be on the cusp of some serious success.

While you could argue that My Passion are hardly massive some three years later, c'mon, you'd have to say that my prediction came true, to a degree. The band members are sex (or at least heavy petting) symbols to a swarm of teenage boys, girls and all curios in between and, with the ink still drying on their contract with Spinefarm Records, My Passion seem to be, if a little slower than anticipated, striding into the mass consciousness. The gold paint that they now choose to coat themselves with, however, may be more than simply aesthetic and cosmetic; while looking great from a distance, up close the coating appears thin and a little weak...and that's where we get to 'Inside This Machine', the band's second album that really should see them explode.....but doesn't.

Second albums are notoriously, and sometimes conveniently, tagged as 'difficult' - 'Inside This Machine' should never have been troubled by such ailments, but it is. The band of three years ago seemed to be in a class of their own, ready to carve out a sound instantly recognisable as theirs, yet now, sonically, they have recorded a batch of songs that offer little in the way of originality. There are times when they sound like something that The Used released several years ago ('Shaking The Dead') and you can't help but think that maybe the obsession with image has occupied their time so much that they have failed to see rival bands catch them up and, inevitably, take them over. Destroy Rebuild Until God Shows, for example, have this year released an album that fused the sound of Bert McCracken and Co to a pounding heartbeat and, from nowhere, have produced one of the year's more intriguing records. In comparison, My Passion's heartbeat is shallow.

There are moments of quality scattered throughout this, troubled is too strong a word, insipid recorded affair, though; 'The Girl Who Lost Her Smile' has a dirty, fat electro riff that smears itself over the speakers, as does 'Seven Birds', but these inspired moments are few and far between. Everything else sounds too polished, too safe. There are times when this is nearer to Euro pop than a shitty Costa del Stupid disco. The single 'Asleep In The Asylum' that appeared late last year has echoes of 80s pop haunting it and, like those aged 'classics', that may be the ultimate problem with the tracks that make up this limp sophomore release; they are well produced yet instantly forgettable.....I think. It's gone already.....

There are moments where red-blooded males listening will be looking through their curtains to see if any of their mates are coming, such is the level of pop music that is attained at certain points of this album, 'Come Back To Me', for example. And the a cappella opening of 'Lily White Lies' teeters on the precipice of both inspired moment and goth Flying Pickets homage. There is, sadly, plenty for haters of the band to get their teeth into here and, disappointingly, little for fans of the band to get truly excited about. That they will, no doubt dictated by image, pretty much says it all.

Let's hope that this is just a blip. I want young British bands to succeed and the bumps in the road that they face on their hopeful journeys to stardom can be avoided. Sometimes, though, you have to also avoid the scenic route; My Passion look great yet they are a band not models and so must attempt to sound great too. It is not beyond them.

www.myspace.com/mypassion