Presumably named after Iain M. Banks’ phonetic pot-boiler of the same name, Feersum Ennjin (sic)’s debut five-track e.p. kisses you tenderly on the nose for about twenty-five seconds and then proceeds to mercilessly wring you out from gizzard to ankle for the remainder of it’s twenty-two minutes. Opening track ‘Lines’ (which has you feeling as though that’s exactly what you’ve been snorting) is a poly-rhythmic barnstormer with more hooks than a fly-fisherman’s tackle box. ‘Solid Gold’ is as close as D’Amour gets to a ballad … Not even the same post-code. A rather neurotic and throbbing acoustic verse gives way to the only chorus in history to be so big it’s visible from space. ‘U-Boats’ and ‘Dragon’ give a size-ten, steel-toed hint of what can be expected from a Feersum Ennjin album … Sonic mayhem. Very high maintenance, very high-strung and very manic; like that psychotic girlfriend you had that was so much fun that you didn’t mind when she stabbed you in the thigh with her needlework scissors … Or maybe that was just me. Majestic, over-blown, aggressive and a little bit like Tool with Tim Wheeler from Ash singing, but a riot nonetheless. http://www.feersumennjin.com Raven | 
