There are some bands with great names round these parts. Pony Club are named after a London S & M club, The Vintage Chimps were named after a misheard request in a music shop for "vintage synths" and Project Twinkle share their name with an American alien conspiracy theory.

Now we can add a new name to this list: The Stunted Giants.

Raging Against the Machine:

Fortunately, their name is not all that is good about them. On first listen, they may sound like a typical ranting band, moaning about the system. But there is just a smidgen more to them than that.

Take opening track, "Contradiction", for example. Though, no doubt, an impassioned rant of the kind described above, it does have some good lyrics in it. And despite the chugging "Last Resort" bass lines, there's a good tune rattling around there as well.

Man and Boy:

Chiefly it deals with the contradictions that many young people experience: not knowing where to fit in because different people treat you in different ways depending on what they can get out of you: "We're adults to make more profit/when there's a problem we're kids to solve it".

It's impassioned, it's angry, and it kind of makes sense. It does sound a little like Alan Parker, Urban Warrior in places. But sometimes you need an urban warrior of Alan's breeding and dogged determination.

One Day My Princess Will Come:

Next up comes the song "Forgotten Memories". This is as far from the political overtones of "Contradiction" as you can hope to get. It's all about trying to sort out your love life, waiting for the day "my true love shows".

It's an interesting choice of lyric for a band that no doubt want to be seen as a hard hitting rocking act with a big political message and impassioned personal pleas from their hearts. Singing songs about "my true love" is usually the staple of boy band ballads. Fortunately, the music compensates for the relative twee-ness of the lyrics, and "Forgotten Memories'" bad points become entirely forgivable.

It begins with a Limp-Bizkit-doing-quiet intro, before developing into a characteristic Stunted Giants chugging riff. And finally, Ed Godsell's vocal soars overhead with a sound not dissimilar to Kevin Rowland: "When I first met you, it was a dream come true/my whole world wanted to revolve around you" he sings.

When You Wish...

With their final track, "Deaf to Dissonance", the Giants cover more romantic territory. It's a song of regret and longing for a chance to have things to happen differently. "I wish I knew your face without tyranny or misery or lies". Once again, the Stunted Giants prove that they can wear their hearts on their sleeves with a passion that few others would dare.

In Mark Steel's "Reasons to be Cheerful" the comedian talks of a period in his life when he could not work out whether he was angry because of the war in Angola or because a girl he fancied was going out with someone else.

It's All in the Name:

With this in mind, the Stunted Giants' name may be more than a clever oxymoronic moniker. They would actually feel a lot more like giants if it wasn't for the political and romantic problems that keep stunting them.

As it is, they remain angry, impassioned and ambitious. Let's hope they don't grow up too fast.

18/05/04 - First published on www.bbc.co.uk/gloucestershire on this link