This third Dinosaur Pile-Up album is the first in the Leeds trio’s history not to feature their one constant member Matt Bigland on every instrument. A team effort at last, album opener 11:11 rams this point emphatically home – its tick-tick-boom dynamics framing a tsunami-rivalling central riff. The paucity of fresh ideas occasionally apparent on 2013’s Nature Nurture has disappeared, and Bigland’s newly limitless melodic ammunition ensures harder-edged tracks (the La Faro-tinged Bad Penny) remain eminently hummable, while mellower ones (Might As Well) still have stickleback spines for defence. A skillfully rendered blast of modern grunge, and well worth your time.
FOR FANS OF: Fighting With Wire, Nine Black Alps, Ash
(this review was originally published in rock sound magazine issue 206 Nov 2015)
GARETH PIERCE 