The Thermals
The Body The Blood The Machine

The usual comparisons still stick – the pop-inflected punk of Guided By Voices, Pixies, any high-tempo rock act popular with indie kids proper – but there’s something about The Thermals that doesn’t warrant absolute acclaim. On a personal note, I never wholly understood the cascade of commendations that followed the release of Fuckin’ A, and again the Portland trio leave me split with The Body…. Yes, it’s a well-realised punk record – scratchy yet punchily produced, gritty lyrically yet compositionally syrupy – but a distinct reluctance to step out of their well-worn mould ensures that The Thermals are unlikely to witness any audience growth in this record's wake. Only ‘A Pillar Of Salt’ truly shines here, its buzzing Mates Of State-like urgency a certainty to set fire to dancefloors worldwide, given the chance. The rest is a little too homogenous to warrant many a repeat listen.

You’d call The Body… a disappointment, but what, stylistically, were you expecting? Explosions In The Sky? Tortoise? The Thermals do what they do and do it well, but it’s 2006, not 1966 – compared to many a contemporary punk outfit, The Thermals sound positively stone age.

Still, history's not the toughest class to pass: a couple of listens' revision and you'll have learned everything there is to know about this particular punk-rock subject.