Yourcodenameis: milo

Listening back to Yourcodenameis:milo’s first album, you have to assume that they didn’t want any fans. Released in 2005, the same year most of us spent many happy hours singing “na na na na na naaaaaa” to Kaiser Chiefs singles or debating the genius of Johnny Borrell, ‘Ignoto’ meshed prog rock and post-hardcore in a manner that resembled little else before or after. It might have only sold 37 copies but many of them were to other forward thinkers such as Bloc Party and The Futureheads, who showed their approval through last year’s ‘Print Is Dead Vol 1’ collaborations – the spontaneity of which seems to have filtered through to the Geordies’ second album.

‘They Came From The Sun’ certainly isn’t where they jump on any indie-schmindie gravy train. But where once there were bloated guitar epics and ADD-influenced time-changes, there are now rocking songs and riffs like punches in the face. The heaving stomp of ‘Pacific Theatre’ and ‘Translate’ both pound like a proto-Black Sabbath, while the synth-heavy ‘About Leaving’ could be remixed into a new-rave anthem in the right hands. The experimental streak is still in evidence (see the awesome metal-lullaby ‘To The Cars’), but the quintet wisely choose not to indulge as much as they once did. Indeed, this time round Yourcodenameis:milo might well get some record sales to go with the collection of verbal props. Not that they’d care either way: this is a band who have different goals to most, and that’s what makes them so special.

Hardeep Phull