Bored with nu-metal yet? The end is nigh according to some people (who shall remain nameless), as more and more bands turn up flogging the same chugger, chugger, turgid rock/rap/metal that has the word 'mediocre' scribbled all over it in BIG letters, with lyrics about dodgy upbringings and how hard life is when you're middle class and white. So, if you fancy something a bit more meaningful and interesting: how about The Strokes? New York's finest according to some people. Bloody rubbish according to others. No! In fact, you don't even have to venture abroad to find the best new music. We've got plenty of it in this country right here, right now! If Aereogramme had been from New York, then maybe they would be on a few front covers of certain UK music weeklies right now. Unfortunately, or even fortunately, they're not , they're from Glasgow, Scotland. let me get one thing straight, Aereogramme are NOT The Strokes. Don't sound like them, look like them or want to be them. And, you'll probably still know who they are in six months' time. This Glasgow three-piece have just produced a major contender for 'album of the year' in 'A Story In White', a remarkable and utterly captivating record. Imagine, if you can, a fantasy supergroup formed by members of Will Haven, Mercury rev, earthtone9 and Tool, with a dab of Tindersticks thrown in for good measure? Sounds awful, doesn't it? Well, trust me on this one, it's not! Fucked-up time signatures, whopping great barrages of sound and dirty great walls of sonic dirge ('The Question Is Complete') are juxtaposed with massive soaring anthems ('Post-Tour, Pre-Judgement', 'A Meaningul Existence') to startling effect. Rather than simply perforating your eardums with a regurgitated downtuned riffage, 'A Story In White' gently unfolds and envelops you completely by stealth. One minute Craig B's vocals have you wallowing in melancholy ('Descending') and the next they're perforating your eardrums with a cathartic rage of almost biblical proportions ('Zionist Timing'). Bassist Campbell McNeil can often be seen sporting his favourite Slayer t-shirt when the band perform live, which is a genuine hint as to the influences that have gone into the Aereogramme musical collective. But, get this: Aereogramme are not Slayer either! Genuinely haunting in some parts and scarily rabid in others, this record offers new surprises on each listen. They come from the mean streets of Glasgow, and you can feel every ounce of the pain, anger, hatred and every other emotion that pours out of Craig B's wretched soul. Truly awe-inspiring, this album is going to be with you for a long time to come. There's also no hype-machine surrounding Aereogramme, which is nice! It means you won't have them forced down your throat at every given opportunity. You'll be able to work it all out for yourself in your own time, appreciate it and love it for what it really is. If you're not hooked on the first listen, you will be by the second or third. Truly absorbing stuff, do yourself a favour and check it out. Now! [4.5/5]
DARREN TAYLOR
Metal Hammer
GLASGEE three-piece follow up some unmissable 12s with this, their debut album: think the glacial poise of Hurl, Codeine, Rodan but shot through with a raw seam of ear-popping heaviosity that makes their frequent freefalls into spectral beauty more overwhelming.
Opener ‘the Question Is Complete’ is definitive – a gorgeous lattice of arrhythmic shred-fest, eerie math-rock precision and that genuinely scary feeling that anything could happen, always threatening to pull the earth from under you at any moment.
Using technology in the most lethally accurate fashion (the dubbed out pulse of ‘Post-tour, Pre-Judgement’), always possessed of an innate pop sense that makes the heart explode on every chorus (‘Hatred’) and simply writing better songs than anyone else in UK rock music right now, only an uncaring unjust world will fail to make Aereogramme bigger than God by Christmas. Absolutely fucking essential. [9/10]