Pugilistic Primates Live, Vol. 2

Channelling the spirit of early-90s Seattle in a way Nine Black Alps (remember them?) could only ever dream of, mixed with original influences from Latin America to the Orient, the Stringmen have returned with their mackem grunge at a time when plaid is cool again for all the wrong reasons (are people REALLY still listening to Sex on Fire?). Now in their sixth year of existence, the Stringmen’s new EP is another fine offering of taut, balls-to-the-wall rock, with ear-shredding guitar and thunderous vocals. Adagio has the ominous tone of Opeth on a particularly noisy motorbike, before the rhythmic World’s Worst Memory, and Bubba, which has vocalist Pete spitting a verse that in part emulates the best moments of Sons and Daughters’ baroque dance-folk. The slower Shot by an Angry White Man tells a story of guns and jingoism before final track Dance of Scorn cranks it back up to 11.