If they were to make 'Incredible Hulk: The Musical', you'd imagine the songs written for the big green bastard would be a lot more interesting than the quiet parts reserved for Bruce Banner.
Likewise, when End Of The New go a little mental and start throwing sounds around angrily, The Swedish Press EP really gets the blood pumping. 'The Church Song' is as doomed as the apocalypse with thunderous drums straddling overlapping guitars and shouting about a girl who is "fucking up the sky". 'Polystyrene Aeroplanes' cuts opens viciously and there is a biting originality to the lyrics like the line: "Stuck all night on dirty sheets/And I'm cleaner than liquorice sweets."
Occasionally the sound veers away from the exciting art-punk sound such as 'Twenty Two' which sounds like The Kills with hushed vocals seemingly recorded in a library. 'Vices' is equally fuzzy but these songs don't reach the satisfying levels of rage displayed on the standout 'Popular Art'. Through gritted teeth come the bitter lines "The city made me hate you, made me hate my fellow man."
It's not likely to soundtrack a charity appeal for The Samaritans, but it is beautifully atmospheric with a great big paranoid rush of a chorus. You'll probably like them when they get angry.
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7Matthew Butler's Score