Maximo Park: A Certain Trigger

Herald rating: * * * *

Not so much Bloc Party, but more British, more jerky, like Kaiser Chiefs - that's Maximo Park. These five likely Newcastle lads have a surging, driving force through their music, which is unashamedly indebted to where new wave meets post-punk. Songs like rousing singles Apply Some Pressure and Graffiti, the reckless sentiment of Going Missing (the album stunner), and the totally wigged out Once A Glimpse are great romps.

Maximo Park are clever, with zany, stealthy keyboard parts, then they pull a song back in and take off again with caustic and noisy guitars, and Paul Smith's lyrics are confessional stories that entertain.

The only worrying trait of Maximo Park is a tendency to sound like other bands. Surprisingly, it's not new wavers like XTC or the Cars but the Proclaimers (scarily so on The Coast Is Always Changing). Postcard of a Painting is Morrissey (but more solo Mozza than the Smiths).

Still, A Certain Trigger is a blast and shows these chaps aren't just adding yet another sound-a-like album to the ranks of the Futureheads, Franz Ferdinand and the Kaiser Chiefs.

Label: Warp