The Blackout: 'We Are The Dynamite'

Lose consciousness on the train from Cardiff and inevitably you’ll be awoken amongst the slag-heaps of rural mid-Wales by a jolly man with a humorous accent. Welcome to Merthyr Tydfil, stomping-ground of emo-perverts The Blackout and not yet known for its musical fertility, but that could be about to change. Locally, the studded sextet have bludgeoned their heads against toilet venue floorboards until they’ve been noticed. ‘I’ve Got Better Things To Do Tonight Than Die’ and ‘Spread Legs Not Lies’ (they’re not shy in the Valleys) are equally impressive; both are like FFAF mutating into Roy Chubby Brown, but conducted with an Thrice-esque addictive rumble where dual-squeallers Sean and Gavin make a racket like ‘Fake Sound…’-era Lostprophets. Inadvertently, a side-splitting, smarmy, cocky joy.

Greg Cochrane