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The second series of 'The Voice Of Ireland' is just around the corner so whilst we count down until the chairs resume their spinning normality and we await the arrival of new coach Jamelia, replacing Brian Kennedy, we're catching up with the winner of the first series, Pat Byrne who has released his first album 'All Or Nothing' this month. 

Review after the jump ...


Buy "All Or Nothing" HERE

Pat wasn't my favourite in the competition but he was one of the better acts in the frankly, mediocre final which saw him beating Vanessa Whelan, Richie Hayes and Jim Devine. The title track is ironically the only song which really stands out to me as being anything other than fairly standard acoustic music. Its' gritty, rocky exterior hides a really deep, quirky song which has been written thoughtfully and carefully and although I don't think it's the best song in the world, I'm surprised to actually quite enjoy it. 



The downside to all this is that it makes the rest of the album pale in comparison. As nice as 'Beat As One' is and as deep the lyrics appear, it just doesn't really make any sort of lasting impression on me as a listener, it fades from my memory as quickly as it comes. The same can be said about songs such as 'All For You' and 'Black Suit Holidays'. It's all a bit been there, done that as far as the songs go because whilst it isn't a bad album by any standard, it's all a little bit generic, I'm sure I have heard very similar songs before by various different artists. Nothing else on the album really stands out, even 'Marathon Man' could do with a little bit more energy to make it sound like anything other than a rather average Ronan Keating album track.



Overall, I don't want this to feel like a public slating of the album, it's far off being a bad album by any means but I do think that it could have done with more energy in some of the songs as although there is the odd 'All Or Nothing' moment, they're well outnumbered by moments more close to resembling 'Dear Romeo'.


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