Willfully embracing a cryptic public image approach that reads like an even more combative version of early Fall sleeves -- band members are credited simply as drummer Flamingo, singer/guitarist Cuckoo, guitarist Crane and bassist Swallow, while hand-scrawled notes and cut-out photos are everywhere -- Elevate makes a fine splash with its debut album. The inspirations come through clearly enough -- besides the Fall, members had clearly been spinning the likes of Girls Against Boys and the Jesus Lizard on their systems. For all that the sonic connections can be traced, though, Elevate makes a righteous enough noise that their pleasures, while derivative, still sound great upon listening. Produced by Flower Shop label head Robin Proper-Sheppard -- no stranger to loud noise via his work in the God Machine -- Bronzee rocks hard without apology, but with plenty of off-kilter angularity. Rhythms stop-start on a dime, melodies per se are eschewed in favor of repetitive, trancy chords and riffs, and vocalist Cuckoo prefers to deliver his slightly whiny rasp against the grain and flow of the songs. M'Statue, which would surface more than once later as a single and on American releases, deserves the higher profile it has. Cuckoo's wickedly funny and very Mark Smith-inspired drawl of "Splintered spi-ine..." over the charging crunch of the music makes for good listening, a slow burn, and explosion of feedback. The band knows the virtue of variety here and there -- 1/2 Painted Chair, for instance, has just slightly stinging acoustic guitar and Cuckoo's murky, boxy vocal making up the track, resulting in a fine tension waiting for an explosion that never comes. Then there's the sometimes loud sometimes not semi-trudge of Priceless Water/Victim No. 12, ending on an ominously calm note of low, repetitive bass notes, or even the banjo on the concluding The Train Journey. ~ Ned Raggett, Rovi

1		Stuntman Big Drag
2		M'Statue
3		The Smitten King
4		---- Garden
5		1/2 Painted Chair
6		Clipper
7		Blockade Man
8		Priceless Water/Victim No. 12
9		Tinstrum (X)
10		The Train Journey