Personnel: Tom Chaplin (vocals); Andy Green (programming).

Audio Mixer: Mark "Spike" Stent.

Having won both critical and commercial acclaim for their debut album, HOPES AND FEARS, British band Keane pushes the hook-infested keyboard-rock on their sophomore effort in a darker, moodier direction. But UNDER THE IRON SEA features an intense, romantic brand of melancholy, with the trio of Tom Chaplin, Richard Hughes, and Tim Rice-Oxley vamping their way through vaulting rock melodies and power ballads, all without the aid of a single guitar.

There are plenty of deliciously chewy guitar-like sounds, though, that Keane achieves by feeding electric pianos and synthesizers through various effects pedals and studio gear. The album begins with the gloomy pop gem "Atlantic," in which Chaplin broods over layers of swelling synths and insistent drum work before the song resolves into a clearing of pure melody. The song showcases Chaplin's soaring vocals, which are at points as tortured as Thom Yorke's and at others smoothly reminiscent of Freddie Mercury. On "Is It Any Wonder?" the verses strut along anxiously until a barely-in-control keyboard riff winds the song up into its gleeful chorus. Filled with moving, melodic rock, Keane's solid second effort points to further sonic expansions to come.

In the two years since releasing their debut album Hopes and Fears, Keane has quickly established itself an integral part of the mainstream rock canon. Hit singles such as "Somewhere Only We Know," "Bedshaped," and "Everything's Changing" made Hopes and Fears a transatlantic hit, earning the trio two Brit Awards, a Grammy nomination, and a host of sold-out world tours. They're as likeable and as accessible as Coldplay yet Keane's return isn't as buoyant as their initial introduction. Whereas Hopes and Fears faced uncertainty head on with joyous enthusiasm, Under the Iron Sea is a darker, less romantic set of songs affected by a disenchanted outlook on life and the world's problems. Keane feels the frustration of a world torn apart by war, but also expresses their own growing pains as a group. Songs such as the grayish ebb and flow of "A Bad Dream" and "Crystal Ball" connect with such reflections. Frontman Tom Chaplin faces the disappointment of growing older on the haunting "Atlantic," another stone-cold gem of synthesizer strings and Tim Rice-Oxley's gorgeous piano delivery. When you think it might be totally depressing, there are some hints of life hidden in the corners of Under the Iron Sea and these mysterious loops highlight Keane's new sonic experiments. Thus far they've existed without guitars. Though the bounty of this record breathes with a collection of various analog synths and an old electric piano, Rice-Oxley's usual performance is now enhanced with a bevy of guitar effect pedals. Debut single "It Is Any Wonder?" is layered with pianos and Chaplin cries out, "Stranded in the wrong time/Where love is just a lyric in a children's rhyme, a soundbite." Such words capture how crucial it was for Keane to come up with something that's tangible and thought-provoking, but the guitar pedals are just a bit too dramatic. Keane should be applauded for going after a different sound; there's no harm in that, but die-hard fans might rush to judge Under the Iron Sea as sounding a bit too much like U2. ~ MacKenzie Wilson