Engerica - The Smell

Storming straight out of Essex are Engerica with their latest single The Smell and if the smell you're after is a fourteen year-olds' t-shirt covered in someone else's snakebite, then this could be for you. Pitching straight for the mid-metal market, things feel a little restrained to be convincing, the vocals never go hell for leather and the music could most flatteringly be called solid. Still, with a ghoulish cover and jokey adolescent lyrics, there is just enough to set them apart from the enormous black-clad crowd. Possibly too simple for your average fan of say, System of A Down, but gross enough to grab their little brother. [Caroline Hurley]