Black Veil Brides – Ritual

The usual glossy teen metal from BVB, who increasingly remind me of 90s dullards Counting Crows dressing up as Kiss for some kerazy Halloween show. I guess if I was 15 years old and, like, totally misunderstood by my parents I could find some solace in this leaden and conservative anthem-by-numbers. As it is, I quite like the fact they make an effort with the hair and the make-up and whole rock n roll as a glam catwalk thing, but wouldn’t it be nice if their tunes weren’t so very bloody boring?

Clement Marfo & The Frontline – Mayhem

The quest for a dustep/ rock cross over act continues. Someone, somewhere is gonna hit hard when they manage to fully combine punky live guitars with wub wubbing bass and the natural hype MCs bring. Clement Marfo & The Frontline have a fair stab at it on Mayhem, and veteran Kano delivers some of the best bars we’ve heard from him in a while.. but still… it’s not quite there yet. The tune, decent enough, doesn’t quite hit the level of head exploding insanity it’s gunning towards, and while it should please fans, the throne is still there for the taking.

The School – Never Thought I’d See the Day

Supertwee indie pop for the eternally DiY. If you look like Thelma from Scooby Doo, read comics by Daniel Clowes (or even know who Daniel Clowes is ), worship Napoleon Dynamite, regularly listen to bands who only release music on cassette, and live in perpetual fear of feral hoodies blowing spit balls at you at any given time, in any given place, then THIS IS FOR YOU. Enjoy.

Shinies – Shola

Not had enough of the grunge revival huh? OK, well, just for you, next up we have Manchester fuzz shamblers Shinies. The trio have been picking up attention for checking all the usual slacker tick boxes- Big Muff guitar distortion, flatly sung songs of lovelorn teen romance, walls of feedback and, somewhere under the grime, sweet melodies. It’s nothing that new, but they deliver with panache and an endearingly heartfelt conviction, so what the heck, let’s give it Single of the Week.