Kerosene have it all. The vocalist with a voice like sandpaper, a furious drummer and guitars to kill for. They sound angry and confused (in a good way) and they might just have saved Gloucester from another attack of mediocre Cobain aping.

Hey, Don't Falter:

The Eponymously titled E.P. is a well crafted affair. There are four tracks on it: "Falter", "Chicane", "Feel For You" and "One Eye Out".

As you might expect from a band who list Pantera as one of their inspirations, they like to play their music on the loud side, but that doesn't stop "Feel for You", a quieter song, from being one of the stand out tracks on the CD.

Inflammable:

Elsewhere, guitars cut through your sound system with the precision of cheese wire. It's what head banging and long hair was invented for.

Opening track, "Falter", chugs into life with a bass guitar. It's soon followed by drums and scales practice from the guitarist.

It's a high octane song, full of "Woos" and "yeahs". It has none of the deception of pretending to be a quiet song, but starts as it mean to go on - straight for the jugular with yelling about smelling fear and feeling angry.

Rock till you Drop:

Next up is "Chicane". It has the same shoot from the hip attitude. A bass riff flows underneath while the vocalist screeches through his lyrics. It's a rocking, head thump of a song. Given a dark, sweaty room full of people, this song would sound excellent live.

Half way through, the tempo changes, a strange sound is heard. Is the CD skipping? No. It's meant to be like that. And then the drummer goes insane. The phrase "Crash and Burn" could have been invented for this song.

Contrasts:

Third track, "Feel For You" is a direct contract. Kerosene probably couldn't get any louder or faster if they tried, so instead, they sensibly opt for an acoustic song abo ut needing to move on ("The life I long to lead"). Here, the band prove they don't just create noise to make your grandmother's hair curl. They can do (relatively) quiet and (relatively) sensitive too.

"One Eye Out" sees a return to Kerosene's explosive form. More fuel has been added to the fire and the band are ready to burn. There's raging vocals, twisted guitar solos and furious drumming throughout.

Kerosene are loud, loud, loud. Turn them up to eleven and watch them ignite.

13/07/04