Sound of Guns – Elementary of Youth EP

It takes a brave fool to start an indie rock’n’roll band these days. The long overdue demise of Oasis should have served as a warning that lad rock is in its last throes, a diseased convalescent only kept from flatlining by a dubious dripfeed of Kasabian and The Enemy. While it may be unfair to slap such a tag on Liverpool’s Sound of Guns when they’re just starting out, they’ve only brought it on themselves: ballsy, brash guitars; meaningless, clichéd lyrics; that bandname. The opening title track sounds like Roger Daltrey fronting The Courteeners, and it doesn’t get any better in the three cuts that follow. [Nick Mitchell]