Dinosaur Pile-Up - The Most Powerful EP in the Universe!

Surprisingly this is the first proper release from Dinosaur Pile-Up. This Leeds trio received considerable attention after the limited release of single "My Rock n Roll" back in January with its grungy, driven sound and have been putting in powerful, impressive live shows since. Their return to the studio has produced a gem of an EP with five tracks that continue with the energy of their debut single.

After a short muffled intro, brilliant opener "Summer Hit Single" kicks in with heavy guitars that quickly give way to Matt Bigland's clear vocals; so the song pushes quickly to the chorus and bridge. The urgency of their sound comes across clearly as further musical ideas are thrown into a song that is not quite four minutes long.

"Opposites Attract", which should be recognisable to Huw Stephen fans, by character takes the pace down a bit and takes time to develop into the full song. When it does though it is another driving number with Matt's vocals taking a slight backseat to his and Tom Dunford's often intricate, usually noisy and always catchy guitar and bass parts and the metronomic drumming of Steve Wilson which holds the songs together.

"Cat Attack!!", the third track, is a bit more inventive, but still is easily definable as Dinosaur Pile-Up with their base elements augmented with a story of a band fight with some deadly cats and a repeated quieter section.

This review is getting a bit repetitive so it's a relief when "Melanin" starts. A much more relaxed number clearly intended to give listeners (and gig-goers) a chance for a breath! It's a sonically pleasant number with some nice guitar parts accompanying Matt's lament on the speed on change, both personal and as a society. However it largely serves to underline that what makes DPU so good, the uptempo songs that can get you moving.

One such song is the closing track, "Beach Bug". Relying heavily on the more basic loud-quiet-loud structure than other DPU songs, it still comes across as a powerfully driven song that makes me want to see them live again. Certainly this track is the easiest for lazy comparisons to grunge fore-bearers, something which misses the extra inventiveness DPU have to offer.

The fact that four of the tracks have been fairly similar in style may sound like a bad thing in print, but the fact that each song is crammed full of so many ideas means in reality each song could stand alone brilliantly and as an 18-minutes whole leaves you reaching for repeat.