Labels: Echo Canyon – PurePainSugar
Review by: Alex Deller
Two lots of neat melodic punk from France on a 12″ that zips round at 45rpm. Torino are ex-Baton Rouge and come at their hoarse n’ hectic punk rock in a manner that’s more Snuffy Smile than No Idea, if you know what I mean. If you don’t, it means that they belt along in a manner that’s melancholy rather than overexcited and uses Leatherface as a template rather than Hot Water Music. Zero Gain are coming from a similarly world-weary place, but wind up sounding different yet complementary. They’re less husky and less ragged round the edges, and their first track (‘Something Wicked This Way Comes’) makes me think of David Gedge fronting ‘Metal Circus’-era Hüsker Dü. By the second song the Wedding Present vibes have tapered off and it’s maudlin, Broccoli-esque punk all the way, the band nailing deftly wrapping downcast guitar parts around their tuckered-out ah-ah-ahs til the record glides to a satisfactory conclusion with ‘King Of The Hill’.