Nine Black Alps - 'Everything Is' (Island) Released 13/06/05

Nine Black Alps are rockers, there is no getting away from it, and would you even want to? In a land bereft of head bangers and more bands with eye liner on then you could shake a mascara wand at, the Nine Black Alps are a welcome refuge in todays music scene. They rock,  they have some cracking tunes and they are quite tasty. What more could you want?

To get to the serious point of their music, and not how you would rate their eyes on a scale of 1-10, it seems that the four-piece could have scored an early own goal. A huge amount of hype before your album is released has the potential to create a backlash as bad as the tailwind of Bloc Party’s 'Helicopter'. It’s hard to see the quality of the band when people start blowing so much smoke up their arse that you can’t even see for rather pungent clouds.

So let’s keep this simple, the band are good. They won’t change the world order or rewrite the history books, but they’re very good. If possible try to listen to this album without all the talk ringing in your ears and it can only be a pleasant experience. The release of 'Everything Is' should at least give some you something concrete to like about the band if you haven't already fallen in love with their forthcoming Nirvana inspired single 'Not Everyone'. The album is a mix of well…of well…everything. While predominately rock and being likened to the Pixies, the Manc four-piece can certainly go that with ‘Shot Down’ to more acoustic pared down songs like ‘Intermission’.

It takes a band with confidence, an eclectic musical knowledge and CD collection to come up with an album that can’t be properly pigeonholed. And while we don’t reckon ‘Ironside’ is a homage to the fantastic wheelchair-bound crime solver, the song sure has a great use of over-the-top feedback. Just the type that you need for trying to pop your eardrums while standing next to the speakers at a gig.

So grow your hair long, throw this on really loud, annoy the neighbours and see how dizzy you can make yourself flinging your head in a forwards and backwards motion for precisely 35 minutes and 38 seconds.