SOUND JUDGEMENT

THE LATEST ALBUM RELEASES RATED AND REVIEWED

CHEATER POM POKO ★★★★★

NORWEGIAN art-rockers Pom

Poko are either deeply menacing or unbearably cute depending on which angle you look at them from.

Lead singer Ragnhild Fangel, with her blonde hair and faintly elven appearance, said the band wanted to embrace their extremes on their second album, Cheater.

They have done this in a number of ways. My Candidacy subverts the loud-quiet-loud-quiet format of punk, drifting ominously into an almost rockabilly sound.

But there is a deeper intensity in the music, driven by Fangel’s lyricism and the dense strut of Ola Djupvik’s drums.

SUCKAPUNCH YOU ME AT SIX

★★★★★ SURREY five-piece You Me At Six may have started out crafting hookheavy rock tunes for the Reading and Leeds Festival masses, but, if this latest release is anything to go by, the band has officially graduated into an altogether more considered arena.

Suckapunch is presented as something of a metamorphosis, combining the band’s penchant for raw riffs with more refined, synth-heavy flecks that elevate title track to a new level – albeit with an intro reminiscent of the BBC News theme tune. Cap-heavy offerings like Makemefeelalive act as a raw assault without the need for softer pop sensibilities. Single Beautiful Way evokes the spirit of You Me At Six from days gone by.

MAGIC MIRROR PEARL CHARLES

★★★★★

MAGIC MIRROR starts with Only

For Tonight, reminiscent of

Abba in full Dancing Queen party mode, but the rest of the album takes inspiration from the 1970s in other ways.

Pearl Charles formed country duo The Driftwood Singers at the age of 18, was drummer in garage rock band The Blank Tapes, and is now unleashing her soft rock side.

Lyrics range from falling in and out of love to capturing the Me Generation’s self-obsession when singing, “It doesn’t matter if there’s rockets flying, it doesn’t matter if the water’s rising” in As Long As You’re Mine.