4x****
Almost kind of a rock album in some places, though mostly like Coldplay without that annoying tool, Final Straw starts out perfectly pleasantly with the understated but hooky "How To Be Dead". "Wow"**** is one of the better pop-rockers, with its stuttering riff. There are no shortage of catchy tracks along those lines, like "Whatever's Left", while others like "Spitting Games" and "Tiny Little Fractures" have fewer surprises except the choice of production tricks. "Gleaming Auction" has one of the crunchier hook, but Iain Archer credited "Ways & Means"**** has the nastiest riff (and also some rather obvious and obtrusive violins). Flow doesn't seem to be as meaningful here as separating the merely catchy from the memorable - and "Chocolate"**** is just that - sensitive, sugary sweet, and infectious - any crunch would have ruined it. "Run"**** is the big power ballad, its wash of sound preceding Big Single "Chasing Cars". "Grazed Knees" and "Same" cement Snow Patrol's wuss rock credentials, but there is enough rock here to make me overlook these.
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