It's not just the fact that Monster Island hail from Manchester, and thus the 'singer' delivers the lyrics in a Mancunian accent: the ragged, shambolic bluster of opener and title track captures the kind of anti-everything piss and vinegar zeal of early Fall, a relentless, claustrophobic clattering racket reminiscent of 'No Xmas for J Quays'. There's no shortage of bile or energy, either.
'Looking for a Leader' is in a similar vein, but with a darker, post-punk undercurrent running through it and takes on the subject of food criticism with a wry disdain and disaffected sneer. 'T&Cs' is dense and muddy, a dissonant, murky bass-led beast with thumping rhythm and clanging guitars bouncing off in all directions, always at divergent angles to the tune. There's even a gloriously atonal anti-solo half-buried in the cacophony.
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Loping rhythms and flatly spoken vocals dominate 'The Tap of the Fuzz', before the jerky, stuttering racket of 'The Lynching' unceremoniously brings proceedings to an abrupt, trebly, half-rehearsed conclusion.
It's perhaps perverse that such a staunchly uncommercial, stubbornly underproduced Fall-influenced din can stand out as one of the most thrilling EP's I've heard in a while, but there you have it. Great stuff.
Download ‘The Green Room’ EP free here
Monster Island on MySpace
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