Dinosaur Pile-Up – Growing Pains

Growing Pains harks back to a pre-millennial indie rock sound, somewhere around when Ash were gonna be the next big thing. And, with Dinosaur Pile-Up’s adeptness at packaging Titanic-sized riffs on top of power pop melodies, it's a pretty pleasant journey despite a few unmemorable detours. First, the good news: This record should get any fan of rock 'n' roll music moving. It's packed tight with a volatile energy, similar to what you'd get from Foo Fighters' career gambit This Is A Call.

Admittedly, frontman Matt Bigland has a pervasive Dave Grohl fetish, though not necessarily the lead Foo's vocal style – it's more that Dinosaur Pile-Up remembers when that band wrote songs with balls, and is seeking to carry on that tradition. Though there's a few misfires along the way, the Leeds trio deliver a big and buzzy pop rock record; refreshing when their influences, such as Weezer, seem to have lost their relevance. [Jason Morton]