(Domino/EMI)

Viola punk, anyone?

Welsh three-piece Threatmantics are currently touring with fellow unsettling garage rockers Clinic, but bring their own unique folk pop edge to their dark punk maelstrom. This is largely down to the fact that they often incorporate viola as a lead instrument, blending blackened string shades with thumping, amped-up rock and roll. What they do with the combination on new mini-album Upbeat Love is often intriguing. Opening track Big Man blends an almost James Bond riff with an explosive indie-punk chorus, while Get Outta Town is a frenetic epic, moody viola combining with punkabilly shuffles and film noir menace. Buried Alive, meanwhile, has a poppy, post-punk melodicism at its centre, with James Lemain a simple, exciting, visceral piece of blues rock and Little Bird veering from crashing racket to haunting atmospherics. An impressive range is already revealed in these eight songs – can’t wait to hear what they can do in a full-length release.

***˝ 

MATT THROWER

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