The Dirty Nil

Master Volume dine alone

It’s punk, Jim, but not as we know it.

It’s so tempting to tag this Canadian trio as a punk band, but there is so much more happening on

Master Volume that it would be doing them a disservice. Somewhere in the ear-bleeding bludgeon and squalling feedback is a clever way with melodies over and above what they achieved on debut Higher Power, and lyrically there’s a more than welcome cheeky sense of irony:

I Don’t Want That Phone Call, Evil Side, That’s What Heaven Feels Like, Bathed in Light, are all pretty morbid – but delivered with a wry smile and a wink. And when you throw in their ability to sound like The Replacements – Please, Please Me and Smoking Is Magic could have been outtakes from Sorry Ma… or the Stink EP and guitarist/vocalist Luke Bentham has a throatshredding howl that brings to mind a youthful Paul Westerberg – you really do have something special going on.