I have been massively, massively impressed by The Arteries when I’ve seen ’em live, so when Lil from Household Name gave me this album I knew I would like it, short of any minor miracles. This lot are a Welsh five piece, pedalling some intense punk rock. This album originally was created as 3 separate, coloured, vinyl 10”s (one blood, one sweet, one beers – you get it). What I have is a CD incorporating the stuff from all them records. Clever really.
This band are a bit fucking special, no question. You can just hear the effort and the fact that everyone in the band just loves playing music in most notes played on the album. Its all down stokes, Descendents riffs (or, more specifically, a dozen variations of ‘The Separation of Church and Skate’ by NoFX) and a liking for trying to sound a bit like Rocket From The Crypt (someone needs to, now that they’ve fucked off). They can write one hell of a chorus too.
If I have any criticism, it’s that on records its just a little bit ‘nicer’ than the live sound – a few more dozen fags before a vocal take would have re-created it. But that really doesn’t stop this being a fucking great UK album. I’d be surprised if it isn’t up there or there abouts in my albums of 2009.
Mike