The backlash against all things Eighties begins here, according to the publicity accompanying NBA's debut album.

The Manchester quartet certainly rock out with no small amount of intelligence and this album has more than its fair share of bloomin' good tunes; the band eschew the current fashion to sound like something that first saw the light of day some 20 years ago. Comparisons with Nirvana are almost on the button - Not Everyone sounds familiar, as anyone who knows Nevermind's Territorial Pissings will doubtless be prepared to acknowledge - but the suggestion that this lot echo the "Pixies at their most viciously intense" is way off. The Pixies were/are simply streets ahead of NBA. But that's no disgrace here. No, what NBA do is take alternative rock and imbue it with brains while keeping the brawn and populist in there as well. You only have to listen to the pop rock of Unsatisfied, with its damned catchy chorus and guitar hook, or the fast'n'furious Shot Down, to get it.

Full marks for making a modern rock record that doesn't hark back to a "golden age" that many believe never really existed in the first place...