Wasting no time and roaring straight out of the blocks with the title track, this first taste of new material from the celebrated Leeds-Bradford quartet – recently augmented by new bassist Chris Wall – initially seems shaping up to be a familiar exercise in the band’s brutally effective fusion of thunderous, serpentine riffage, frantic rhythm and vocal melodrama. Typically short and to the point, ‘Figure Eight’ is eminently satisfying but gives no indication of the innovation present elsewhere on this recording – if their debut LP suffered from a frustrating uniformity of tone, This Et Al prove themselves to be anything but one-dimensional here. ‘Medicine Hammer’ takes full advantage of the studio and Duels/Grammatics producer James Kenosha’s technical expertise, laying Wu’s remarkable falsetto over a backdrop of electronic ambience and crackling static. ‘Ice Age’ is best of all, shoehorning the band’s trademark elements into possibly their most accomplished attempt at classic songwriting yet, complete with judicious use of piano and a gorgeously extended end section. ‘(The Tale Of) Frosty Jackson’ closes out the EP with a meditative instrumental which throws light onto the scintillating chemistry between the four players, guitars, bass and drums dancing round each other before exploding into life as the piano returns to marshal the song to a storming climax. On the evidence of this release, This Et Al are hardly experiencing a sophomore slump – in fact, album number two looks set to be rather special.

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