Max Raptor - Portraits
From the very first few bars of the distorted bassline on opening track 'The King Is Dead' Midlands quartet Max Raptor stick their talons in your lugholes maintain their grip for the duration of their debut mini-album 'Portraits'.
Max Raptor excel at writing anthemic songs with a social commentary that are catchy enough to get you moving on the first listen, yet raucous and unpolished. There are liberal hints of punk and rock here, but the band also have an undeniable knack and keen ear for writing poppy hooks and they have plenty in the way of infectious chant-along choruses with 'The King Is Dead' and 'Beasts' being particularly moreish.
Of the eight songs on offer here there is not a single dud, though track 5, Carolina, sounds slightly incongruous amongst the rest of the tracks; it's not that it's bad, just different, a little bit like a post-punk Kaiser Chiefs.
Max Raptor have already earned their gigging spurs touring with Billy Talent, The Zutons and The Stranglers and have a UK tour schedule to begin at the end of the month. I suggest that you catch them if you can, if only to tell people that you saw them before they made it big.