These Arms Are Snakes – Tail Swallower and Dove

Forged from parts set adrift after the disbandment of post-hardcore heroes Botch and Kill Sadie, These Arms Are Snakes suggest they’re still searching for the middle ground between the fury of the first and the melody of the latter with album number three. Calling to mind the aesthetic that At the Drive-In preached as they encouraged punk kids to dance rather than slam each others faces into the dirt, this Seattle-based quartet specialise in making stuttering basslines collide with amphetamine fuelled Hendrix riffs. However, Tail Swallower and Dove trades in much of the immediacy of its predecessor – 2006’s Easter – for a progressive bent that has more in common with the Mars Volta. There's the odd moment when all this mercurial weirdness turns into tedium - as heard in the listless, ambient meandering of Long and Lonely Step - but it's the only lingering stinker on an album that transcends its initial dirge-like appearance to become a satisfying shot of modern punk rock that pays dividends to persistence. [Dave Kerr]