Harvey Milk - A Small Turn Of Human Kindness

This comes thundering out of a reluctant stereo like super-massive sauropods in a war for territory. Feet push off hillsides as their long necks swing amidst low cloud and skulls the size of battleships crash together with every achingly measured beat – it’s heavy, heavy stuff. Take the Melvins’ stickiest moments, play them in a walkman with fading batteries and it'd be something approaching the molten roar of Harvey Milk.

Not that it's without momentum or songs; I Am Sick Of All This Too – at a curt 2:14 – packs some minimalist, quality riffage and I Know This Is All My Fault incorporates some tasteful and effective string atmospherics. For the uninitiated its worth mentioning that, with a stoic focus on the resolutely miserable task at hand, A Small Turn... does sometimes teeter on the brink of parody by being so unrelentingly morose. That said, to the connoisseur, this is a quality slab of grim. [Chris Cusack]