Birmingham's SUE, It Will Never End - album review

This week's The Ticket Unsigned stars SUE, from Birmingham, have dropped their debut record quietly, but that's where the calm ends.

This molten pot of guitars, percussion and guttural screeches is almost nuclear.

With Avengers: Endgame dominating the box office currently, it seems like fate has dealt us the perfect metaphor.

Imagine big bad Thanos, curling that golden gauntlet into its huge fist shape, swinging it at the speed of sound in your direction - and catching you square in the crown jewels.

The sheer sonic force of that connection is channelled here through this talented four-piece, who have scratched, scrawled and grated together this pizza slice of tasty noise rock with near-perfection.

The distorted finish to the sound - recorded, produced and lovingly nurtured by frontman Elliot Stone himself - is deliciously slick while unnervingly dangerous.

The guitars simply growl, the percussion pops like little gunshots through the smog and the angst-ridden vocals howl through the night like a banshee trapped in a well of despair.

Stone, originally from Kinver, and bandmates Ashley Lavelle from Kidderminster and Brummie brothers Harry and Euan Woodman have had a blast and included us in the fun.

The sheer aggression and agitation of Gotta Gotta Gotta captures that youthful exhuberance of finding your way through this troubled life with all the ferocity of somebody who wants a better tomorrow, today. Explosive musical interludes linking the vocal segments aren't just hurried, they're lightspeed. Those duelling guitars dance their merry dance while Stone calls them to his side with his roared vocal delivery.

Medicine is equally frenetic and enjoyable. Riffs aplenty from Stone and Lavelle batter from one side, with Euan practically jabbing you in the eye through his drumskins in a double assault on the senses. It's loud, proud and sassy.

The same can be said for Thirst. Perhaps the most outwardly angry of the material here, Harry is let loose on the bass to thump the song forward to its explosion of a finale.

And they even find time to tease us into thinking they've gone soft on closer I Am Nothing. Like the finest work by Cloud Nothings, they lull us into sleepy ignorance before they kicking in for a more relaxed, soaring guitar sound. Keep an eye out for a hidden track too.

Rating: 9/10