On first listen to this album, I got it completely and loved it. Unfortunately, after a while though, the novelty wore off and I saw a couple of 'fairly good' singles with some b-side quality songs!

The point to be celebrated about this album, though, is the band's message and delivery. Lead-singer, Eddie (don't steal his biro) Argos has written some pretty funny lyrics - mostly ironic. 'Formed A Band' is genius ("and yes, this is my singing voice/ it's not irony/ it's not rock n roll/ I'm just talking to the kids". His voice at times can be pretty testing though, especially the last line in 'Rusted Guns of Milan', Jesus... (I could seriously put a bag on his head during that bit).

They are NME darlings, which is probably what put me off in the first place but with lyrics like "haven't read the NME in so long/don't know what genre we belong" you get the feeling that it's more their PR company's fault than theirs. Ultimately, the album is a punk-y kind of Ramones offering with clever and funny lyrics, which save it. I'm pretty sure that without Argos they'd miss the spot, which means although the irony in the lyrics are great, the music isn't always.

Craig Sharp