London indie-rockers The Mighty Roars sound like an unholy union of Brit-pop and punk ā€“ the result is loud, sassy and full of unbridled energy.

Sellotape opens their debut album like an updated Elastica, while the unpolished guitar of ..Captains Ship follows the quiet/loud dynamic of the Pixies ā€“ the constant factor being the attitude-fuelled yowling of Swedish frontwoman Lara Granqwist.

Daddy Oh is the key cut of the record, blending bouncy pop with an explosive chorus that will destroy your will to resist as well as your eardrums: when Lara sings ā€?all the boys wanna jump my styleā€¯, she ainā€™t just whistling Dixie.

If that stellar showpiece doesnā€™t win you over, thereā€™s little hope for the remainder of the album, like the unhinged Kiss It, which comes along like the guitar, bass and vocals are all chasing the drums down the middle of a street, or Whale, which mixes Dee Dee Ramone-style bass with shards of guitar on the verses, while the chorus cries ā€?I got a heart thatā€™s as big as the oceanā€¯ over a riff thatā€™s equally large and unstoppable.

The acoustic Wish Everything provides a moment of respite, and Jude And Siennaā€™s floating vocals and dreamy melody prove Lara can do lovelorn equally as well as sassy, but if you let your guard down, the likes of the heavy-hitting Romeo or alternative rock jewel Bag It Up are there in an instant to set you straight.

Swine And Cockerel is almost exhausting just to listen to, itā€™s that energetic. And itā€™s damn near impossible to ignore.

Owen Heitmann

Sacramentoā€™s Hoods are resilient, having survived several lineup changes and moves between record companies over the course of their decade-plus career, and if thereā€™s any quality captured in this latest album, itā€™s their tenacity. Ghetto Blaster is 12 tracks of brutally persistent mosh hardcore.

The title track ā€“ just about the longest song on offer at 2 minutes 15 seconds ā€“ is full of abrasive riffs, thunderous drums, metal-influenced vocals, breakdowns, and no originality whatsoever, although in that last respect itā€™s outdone by the following I Canā€™t Take This, which is even more predictable, right down to the lyrics.

To the bandā€™s credit, though, there are a couple of tracks that break the mould ā€“ a surprising hard rock influence is apparent on both the road anthem Willie Nelson And A 12 Pack and the mildly amusing Donā€™t Fight! Letā€™s Party Tonight!, while the instrumental Endtro benefits from a more creative structure and the absence of the guttural vocals.

But my antipathy towards the album can be summed up by the song Beat Cops. Itā€™s not so much the anti-police attitude thatā€™s offensive as the fact that itā€™s expressed so brainlessly: after about 30 seconds it sound like the lyrics are being made up on the spot ā€“ extremely badly. Itā€™s as if the band revels in their stupidity.

The final two tracks (The King Is Dead and Ernie Cortez) are labelled live recordings, although youā€™d hardly know it to listen to them. But while thereā€™s no evidence of an audience, at least they prove the band (particularly the vocalists) can hold their own outside the studio.

Owen Heitmann

A funny thing happened to melodic hardcore band From Autumn To Ashes on the way to their fourth album ā€“ assuming that you think a massive lineup reconfiguration is a funny thing. Guitarist Jonathan Cox quit and was replaced by Rob Lauritson after their third album Abandon Your Friends, and Ben Perri ā€“ one of the groupā€™s dual vocalists ā€“ opted out just as the band were preparing to enter the studio for the follow-up. Drummer and co-vocalist Fran Mark then assumed full-time vocal duties himself, resulting in Jeff Gretz joining as touring drummer… and if thatā€™s not enough, former bassist Mike Pilato rejoined after the albumā€™s recording, replacing Josh Newton.

Given that Mark had always handled the cleanly sung vocals (in contrast to Perriā€™s screams), one might expect the group to have moved more in that direction following his transition to sole frontman. As if anticipating this, opener Deth Kult Social Club is one of the heaviest tracks theyā€™ve recorded, with caustic guitars, merciless double kick drums and Mark screaming his lungs out like his life depends on it. He might not be the greatest screamer ever but his ferocious delivery in that area more than suffices to ensure that Perriā€™s absence is hardly noticeable.

But although all the above features remain throughout the album, itā€™s when theyā€™re tempered by combination with accessible elements (the sung chorus of Daylight Slaving being a prime example) that the band really comes into their own. The balance between breakdowns and tunefulness is tricky to maintain, but From Autumn To Ashes has straddled the line perfectly here. The likes of Under Pass Tutorial veer from metal to mellow rock, but more importantly do it well, and deserve to reach an appropriately diverse audience.

Owen Heitmann

The debut album from Chicago-based trio The Jai-Alai Savant is an adventurous mix of dub, post-punk, reggae, rock and pop that sounds unlike almost anything else ā€“ imagine the offspring of a union between The Police and Bad Brains and youā€™re part way towards envisaging their sound and also realising how unusual it is. Philadelphia-born singer, guitarist and songwriter Ralph Darden has brought all his influences together to create an eclectic collection of songs.

The bass-driven rock of Arcane Theories and White On White Crime is near unstoppable, while the wonderfully titled Scarlett Johansson Why Donā€™t You Love Me and Akebono deliver reggae-inspired pop hooks that highlight the bandā€™s accessibility. When I Grow Up is likewise welcoming, mixing together pop and punk without being remotely pop-punk. On the other side of the coin is The Low Frequent See, which pushes eight minutes for a meandering exploration of desolate dub and rock that employs dialogue samples by Dardenā€™s alter ego, DJ Major Taylor, and ambient instrumental interlude Transmission From The Dub-Delegate. The electronica additions provided by ā€?Taylorā€¯ are most noticeable on Data Massaganna and the intro of Murder Pon The Dancefloor Part II. …and then thereā€™s the experimental 30ā€™s In The Thousands, which adds folk to the already diverse mix and is definitely the most unusual moment on an unusual album.

Flight Of The Bass Delegate practically defies classification, and it is certainly a dense album, but several pop-oriented songs provide easy entry points, and exploring the recordā€™s depths proves rewarding.

Owen Heitmann