Pocket Promise are named after a Cable song and sound fuck all like Cable. Considering ‘Nothing More’ is a headrush of joyful glitzy glam, it’s a pity the rest of the songs tail off into more morose, ballad-rock territory. The best of the bunch would be ‘Die Sleeping’, originally recorded by John O’Niell (ask your big brother), which pisses over that Nickelback song which spent the whole of spring 2002 ruining your MTV/Kerrang TV watching-experience. It is also far better than its Stereophonics-like chorus would have you to believe. These boys clearly understand pop songwriting dynamics.

That is, however, their downfall. ‘Something’s Kinda Nice’ is a pointless ladrock wah-wah fest trying to be too bluesy for its own good. ‘Waiting’ is a typical wrist-slasher. They can no doubt play their chosen instruments very well, you just wish they’d cheer up a bit. Last track, ‘We Rule @ Life’, fastens the pace slighty, with a moody intro breaking into a dirty guitar riff and a “whoo hoo!” yelp that made me smile. Nice work.

Overall then – not bad at all. I just wish there’d been a few more along the lines of ‘Nothing More’, which showcase a far more off-kilter side to them (perhaps there is hope yet with that Cable reference), mixing in singer Cormac’s old Stereophonics obsession with the slight vocal hysterics of Matt Bellamy, and a melody that sounds like it’s been half-inched from Blondie. Ah well, you can’t have everything.