Fittingly, as the latest band spawned by Buddyhead (the label partly run by and home to The Icarus Line), Your Enemies Friends look dark and sound nervous. Not in a shy, introverted way, but from the bleak monochrome packaging you get a suitable opener to the music - the sounds of riffs being fought over by distorted guitars and staccato keyboard sounds, mixtures of cellos and feedback, unhinged vocals and songs about "the Gestapo", "the stinking corpses", "the bodies shaking to pieces again".

Though not the most complex song structures songs such as "A Figure of Speech" work on a repetition of one stuttering riff that's hammered into your head by a mixture of guitar and keyboard. The often melodic male/female vocals on "This is Disconnect" give way to riot grrl screams on title track "The Wiretap", and then melancholic singing on final dark epic "Your Enemies Are Your Enemies Friends". The urgency with which the music is played, oscillating guitars complimented by keyboards that either drone or bleat harshly, further adds to a sense of discord that underlines the whole record.

Its both the diversity of the post-punk/hardcore sound and the coherence of the grim aesthetic that gives a lot of gravity to this 6 song debut. Expect anticipation for the LP that will surely follow this...

"its funlikeplasticcubesthatsteriliseyourfuckinginsides"