Playlouder

... seems to have turned into some kind of music networking site has archived some pieces I wrote for them back in mists of time. Since you've expressed an interest (though I may just have been confused by an echo), I will republish them here in all their questionable glory:

My Vitriol - Finelines

Black sheets of rain, jagged beds of metal, stormy seas of noise, the perfect synthesis of Nirvana's raging punk psychosis and the amorphous body-throb of My Bloody Valentine. This is the sound of Finelines, at least in My Vitriol's finely-cheekboned head. They're not far off. But making that elusive beast the rock classic is easier said then done. Chuck in a few fillers toward the end and no matter how many operatic planet-straddling monsters you started off with, chances are you've fucked it.

One argument against My Vitriol says that Muse have cornered the market in theatrical spleen-venting, leaving the thrilling but retrograde guitars of opener "Alpha Waves" looking well eighties. Possibly, but with Som Wardner's unerring ear for a melody and the burning metal guitars giving it perpetual crank and bend, it's the Devonish geezers that end up looking redundant and silly.

Check "The Gentle Art Of Choking" for an intro that could almost be Ash were it not so adrenalised, for stunt guitars that wheel and stall then before spinning to high-altitude safety. The same goes for 'Cemented Shoes', only with more of above. A useful point of reference is Sugar's hi-trauma mini-album Beaster: pain alchemised to pop gold, claustrophobic, unstinting, brutal, beautiful.

It may well be too long and it might stick to its blueprint a little too faithfully, but singularity of vision can hardly be criticised on a debut record. Finelines is a black-hearted but coruscating journey at speed.

Funny thing is, I can't remember a single thing about this record. Also, I suspect I may not have known what "coruscating" meant.