Goodnight Nurse: Always And Never

Herald rating: * * *

They promised so much on punchy single Loner. Goodnight Nurse kicked arse.

And some of their debut is as blistering and addictive as that single. But some of it needs a rocket.

There's a thundering bass and back-end throughout, but where's the guts, the sweat and the explosive leaps that go with it? That's hard to pull off on a studio album.

They've made things interesting, with All Hail the Serpent Queen being part one of a trilogy. A Shadow and a Prayer is more like the Killers than a punk-pop outfit, and the lo-fi intro to No Way to Escape builds into a frenzy.

But often the frenzy turns to fizzle, and the pop-punk chug of Take my Hand - with a scorching chorus but dreary, imploring verses - falls flat. And the Grease-era "shoo-wops" in Suffer don't work.

Goodnight Nurse are best at the short, sharp and snappies, and on a song like Loner they take that leap off the stage and launch into it. Brilliantly executed, melodic beyond belief, and the pace is perfect.

But Always and Never just goes to show how hard it is to come up with an album full of those.

Label: FMR