Shooting At Unarmed Men - Triptych

That the harrowing opening few seconds of Triptych threaten to carbon copy Mclusky is unlikely to be accidental; singer Jon Chapple was behind the Welsh noiseniks pummelling bass riffs before “fucking off” to Australia, seemingly clutching a batch of Minutemen records en route. Unlike their last album Yes! Tinnitus!, Triptych at least lives up to its name, being a single length album spread over three discs, though Lord knows why. In fact, much of Triptych smacks of trying too hard, whether it’s the overly laborious song titles (Boredom Is The Feeling That Everything Is A Waste Of Time), or Chapple’s snot-nosed punk barbs (“Your Dear John letter had grammatical errors and failed to mention that you’re a cunt”). OK, so that line is actually pretty good, but it’s not indicative of Triptych, and when the occasional memorable melody or witty line does surface, a la Peristalsis, it only highlights how forgettable the rest of it is. [Darren Carle]