The Blood Brothers - Young Machetes

With enough sub-3-minute hard-jazz-spazz-core to fill any scenester’s boots, The Blood Brothers are a super singles band. From the earliest work ‘This Adultery Is Ripe’ to the lock, stock ‘n’ 13 acetastic tunes of 2004’s ‘Crimes’, the dual-vocalled powerhouse of Johnny Whitney and Jordan Billie have a lot to live up to.

And the little ones on ‘Young Machetes’ certainly deliver. From the tearing call of ‘Fire! Fire!’ on ‘Set Fire To The Face On Fire’’s swarming shout to the pounding rollicking of ‘Rat Rider’, it’s raw, scathing energy all the way.

Perhaps none more so than the ‘jazzed to the maxx’ Casio keys of ‘Laser Life’, and hammering chorus of ‘Vital Beach’ - both delivering the Seattle band’s trademark dance interludes and searing bawls in under three minutes; it’s what makes The Blood Brothers’ battle-pop the alternative to hardcore’s hookless screeches.

Yet not scoring perfect points, ‘Lift The Veil, Kiss The Tank’’s disco beat does seem stunted alongside the rest, while ‘Camouflage, Camouflage’ dirges at points. Perhaps an epiphany in ‘Street Wars/Exotic Foxholes’ then? With minutes of eerie strings whilst retaining a blasting quality, the boys are certainly pushing for more.