Layabouts - Savage Behaviour Album Review

Ask the average person in the street to name a Spanish rock outfit and the chances are you'll be waiting a while for an answer, for guitar music isn't the country's greatest export. It is perhaps due to this that finding information about Layabouts proves tricky, but the Madrid-based rockers are looking to change this with a release on Homeless Records.

Singing an album in a language that isn't your mother-tongue can't be easy, so kudos go to Layabouts for doing this, but much more admirable is the direct sonic assault they present. 'Rock's Dead' couldn't be any more inappropriate a title for a track built on a stonking riff, whilst 'Fire' is an urgent number that doesn't sound completely unlike Placebo. 'Chevy' sounds thoroughly like The Fratellis' 'Chelsea Dagger', though misses the terrace dancing quality and the garage-rock stomp of 'Rollercoaster' will likely have you tapping along at the least. To cap off the nods toward influences is 'It's All Dead', on which huge guitars back a vocal delivery that has a touch of Kurt Cobain about it, a decent end to an album that clock in at less than half an hour. It might not be mind-blowing, but this raw outfit show enough to be worth keeping an eye out for.

Alex Lai