Rummer And Grapes - 'Ground Control' (New Model Label) 4.5/5

Now despite being named after a London student boozer, Rummer And Grapes are in fact from Italy, and are, along with the likes of Bi-Polar Sluts, Speedjackers, Having Thin Moonshine etc part of the exciting new wave of Italian rock that is beginning to make waves beyond their homeland. They issued their debut long player a couple of years back, and have now returned with this rather cool and groovy three track ep.

Now there is lot of interesting influences on show here; a touch of good old indie / alternative rock, a hint or two of The Subways style pop punk and a smattering of good old fashioned hard rock sensibilities; all served up on a platter of Delain / Nightwish style female fronted post goth styling.

Of the three tracks on offer we get Between Darkness And Light which starts out sounding a little like Within Temptation at their very best and builds into a cracking commercial hard rocker that is dripping huge hooks and vast sweeping riffs. January 12th has a certain Lacuna Coil quality to it with its huge guitar soundscaping, spine tingling vocal and massive chorus. However the real killer cut on offer is the title track Ground Control, a ripping track that wouldn't sound out of place on a Subways or Skuzzies album, with its bouncy post punk light and choppy riffs, air punching anthem of a chorus and shiver inducing use of samples - a classic cut if ever there was.

All in all this is a great release, and goes a long way to build on the already impressive reputation of this band and for that matter new Italian rock in general

Seek and buy.

For fans of... The Subways, Nightwish, Where's Billy, Trillium etc....