Doctrines - ANX

On debut EP ‘ZE’, Manchester’s Doctrines looked towards inventor Raymond Kurzweil’s belief that technology would soon overcome nature, disease and even death. A potentially complicated topic to discuss in detail but there was nothing difficult about the EP’s charm, each track a visceral one-two combo of gritty vocals and sleek melodies.

Now, this noisy four-piece return to the present on debut album ‘ANX’ and emerge more fully formed and mature. Mixing ruthless energy (‘ANX’) with romantic introversion (‘Mate Expectations’), Doctrines build adrenaline from the gut and forces it upwards with a heady mix of scuzzy anger and confusion. ‘Teeth’ is ‘ANX’’s most seething track: a snarling number chomping viciously at the ankles of corporate ownership.

Elsewhere, vocalist Jamie Birkett tries to make sense of life on personal levels of discovery. ‘Daydream’ and ‘Meatlump’ both reference masturbation, each the soundtrack to the sordid fantasies of slacker adolescents in American teen movies. Further on, ‘Waiting for the Next Thing’ is a bitter tale of disappointment told over rippling percussion and grunge-influenced guitars. Parred down closer ‘Aim in Aim’ is incredibly self-loathing as Birkett sneers: “I have a habit of feeling nothing at all,” atop the hard strummed stabs of an acoustic guitar.

But for all of ‘ANX’s pessimism, and there’s lots of it here, glimpses of warmth and optimism do exist. “So give me good times,” Birkett snarls on ‘Choked On Hair,’ the most bro-tastic tale of holding your chum’s hair back as they spend the night head first in a toilet bowl.

At its heart, ‘ANX’ is a pretty glum perspective on life. The present’s pretty bleak by Doctrines’ standards and they’re willing to either sit and wallow in it or react with a volatile bite. And it’s this exact cynicism that’s allowed them to create an honest and accomplished debut album.