Joyce Manor
Of All Things I Will Soon Grow Tired
Big Scary Monsters
07 May 2012

by Alex Andrews

There is a reason why debut albums are often held with such affection. They arrive without pressure, without expectation and in the best cases, without unnecessary amounts of polish. Such an example was Joyce Manor’s eponymous album. Not since Against Me! had a young band sounded so fresh or so tunefully intense, and as parallels exist between the early trajectories of both bands, it’s with good reason that the promise of a follow-up has caused waves of excitement to ripple throughout the underground.

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Sharks
No Gods
Rise Records
19 March 2012

by Tomas Doyle

Ah ha! Here it is then, “The Shape Of Punk To Come”. These four young lads from sunny Royal Leamington Spa known collectively as Sharks are being touted in some quarters as the bright young things of UK punk rock, but can their first full-length, No Gods, really ever hope live up to the weight of expectation that crowds their youthful shoulders?

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