The second album by Welsh indie guitar band
the Automatic was released in 2008, two years after their debut,
Not Accepted Anywhere. The band occupied the same space in a very crowded market as
the Kaiser Chiefs,
the Killers,
Kasabian, and a number of other guitar-based rock bands (not always beginning with the letter K). On the debut album, however, they managed to come up with a killer track with "Monster," and that helped propel
Not Accepted Anywhere into the Top Three on its first chart week. It may be that
the Automatic wanted to be taken more seriously as a rock band, and virtually all the tracks on
This Is a Fix were guitar-heavy rock songs. Although they attempted to inject a bit of fun into the tracks "Steve McQueen," "In the Mountains," and "Magazines," many others -- particularly on the second half of the album like "Bad Guy," "Sleepwalking," and the title track -- lacked melody. There was nothing to compare with the hit song "Monster," and the second album consequently failed to re-engage with fans who had bought the debut, and also failed to bring any new fans on board.
This Is a Fix was nowhere near as successful as
Not Accepted Anywhere, charting for just one week and only outside the Top 40. ~ Sharon Mawer