All The Young - Live At The Kings Hall, Stoke On Trent Album Review

Formerly known as New Education, All The Young are a quartet currently supporting Kaiser Chiefs and have their own headline tour to follow. Previous acts who have invited them to share the stage are Hard-Fi, The Courteeners and most impressively Morrissey, all of which should have increased their exposure ahead of the release of their first album in April.

Live records don't have the best of reputations, failing to truly transport you to the middle of the action and with an inferior quality to studio counterparts. However this free download actually serves as a great marketing tool to get All The Young's name around, and it is perhaps those downfalls of live releases that make this a tantalising preview - even going as far as to include all the tracks scheduled to be on the aforementioned debut.

Despite not being able to really decipher the lyrics of Ryan Dooley, tunes like 'The First Time' and 'New Education' are clearly indie anthems whilst 'The Horizon' has a touch of Oasis' Britpop swagger. 'Welcome Home' is an impressively epic guitar track, but rising above all else is 'Arcane', a slow-burning but grand tune with mesmeric melodies and an ambition for this band to be more than a warm-up for established names. With this release they get your attention, now let's see if they can keep it.

Alex Lai