It's hard to imagine the prospect of a Title Fight show without the energy and fervour present in the band's earlier material, but it seems with Hyperview, their third LP, the band have allowed earlier influences such as Jawbreaker to take a backseat, instead taking cues from the likes of Hüsker Dü, and even Ride. It's quite a departure, and whilst the band don't quite make good on the promise of a heavier record, it's certainly easy to see why they might say that.

That said, conceptually they might just be right. There's little in the way of the cathartic furore, such as was found on 2009's The Last Thing You Forget, and in fact, with the exception of 'Mrahc' and possibly 'Dizzy', there's an unshakeable sense of tension and paranoia that runs through the course of Hyperview, and whilst the record's tendency to segue into shoegaze will potentially open up a whole host of new fans for the band, it could also cost them fans too.

However, Title Fight aren't the first band in their scene to undergo a change in direction, with Pianos Become the Teeth also doing so, interestingly enough, both records were produced by Will Yip, and whilst it's hard to deny his talent as a producer, one might think his talents have gone a little overboard here. It's not that it's an overproduced record per se, but the more amorphous tracks do seem to blend in to one another, and only do 'Rose of Sharon' and album closer 'New Vision' possess even the slightest amount of energy and aggression of previous releases. That does go with the territory though, with '80s and '90s indie influencing the band far more than their punk heroes, and when the guitars, on more than one occasion, find a similar jangle to that of Johnny Marr, instead of the buzzsaw of Blake Schwarzenbach, you know something's changed.

Bands do grow up though, and it would be fruitless to keep churning out the same record time after time, the only problem being that with Title Fight, a change in direction has seen them step down a gear. Hyperview could just be them settling into a new groove, however, and I am willing to give them the benefit of the doubt, one can only hope that such a change in direction and a shifting of gears doesn't also signify the beginning of the end for Title Fight.

Hyperview is available from amazon & iTunes.