Picture this: The amps are turned up to eleven, the garage is so tiny that wails of feedback are the norm and three people just like you are putting their heart and soul into straight down the line heavy riffed punk-rock with so much energy even the walls are sweating. This, my friends, is what it’s all about.

Slowcoaches are anything but, with ‘Nothing Gives’ jam-packed with furiously fast punk bangers, liberally peppered with blasts of shrieking guitars and a heavy dose of very real issues like anxiety, break-ups and losing your job. It’s basically a relentless pounding of garage band punk from beginning to end and is nothing short of glorious. Sometimes, less can be so much more.

‘Living Out’ sets the standard with its pure punk-rock riffing and a low-slung indie vocal from Heather Perkins on the insistent chorus. What comes next, are just variations on their straightforward formula, yet it never gets dull and there are plenty of twists and turns along the way. ‘We’re So Heavy’, for instance, is precisely that; a chugging bass line and slow grinding riffs stumbling along, before another punk runaround to a wonderfully insistent groove.

They bend the groove a little out of shape on the angular ‘Raw Dealings’, with its wiry riff and super fast assault, while ‘Levity’ has a slightly darker feel. The overall retro punk vibe makes for a great listen though, particularly on the thrash along of ‘Drag’ and the cool vibe of the mid-tempo ’54’.

The fast and furious ‘Surface Observations’ has to be the highlight with its wonderfully scuzzy riff, one of those classic bass punk-rock bass lines and rowdy chorus. Everything on here nails it though, and whatever it is that makes an album exciting is pouring out of every track on ‘Nothing Gives’.

This is good old fashioned punk-rock played with wild abandon that is simply superb. It would’ve been perfect in 1977, and is still perfect for 2017; killer!

5/5

‘Nothing Gives’ by Slowcoaches is out now on Leisure and District.

Slowcoaches links: Facebook|Twitter|Bandcamp

Words by Edward Layland (@EdwardLayland)