Honeyblood – Honeyblood

In tone, Stina Tweeddale’s vocals on Super Rat are disarmingly sweet; in content, they’re scintillatingly vitriolic. “I will hate you forever,” she trills in unison with drummer Shona McVicar, firing syllables at a presumably quivering target. “Scum! Bag! Sleaze! Slime! Ball! Grease! You really do disgust me!” – a pretty unequivocal payoff, set to a punch-the-air slice of hook-filled, grungy guitar pop.

It’s a genre the Glasgow duo are already mavens of, with their eponymous debut possessing the special kind of vitality that only a lean and acutely focussed two-piece can muster. As anyone fortunate enough to witness their live shows over the last couple of years already knows, the absence of a third pair of hands on bass limits neither their power nor clarity, and producer Peter Katis has successfully ensured that all that charm and energy translates to record.

Joining Super Rat on the album’s invigorating highlight reel are the pacey, sugared chorus of Killer Bangs, the moody alt-rock of Choker, and the cantering, shout-along refrain of All Dragged Up – though really, you can stick a pin anywhere in its 40 minutes and turn up a choice guitar line or a razor-sharp melody worthy of enthusiastic praise.