It’s one thing to know your rulebook, but quite another to know how to use it to your advantage. Neverthemore are well-schooled in the ways of emo and post-hardcore, and their eponymous eight-track debut is full of the tricks of the trade. Problem is, so were roughly 1,456,045 other records. Released last year. In July.

Neverthemore is clearly the product of much love and devotion – it’s apparently some two years in the making – but for every song of strength there’s a bucket of clichés to contend with. True, the muscular instrumental ‘Whitewash’ demonstrates the Watford quartet’s technical prowess, and occasional turns to the sweeter side of all things angst prove to be noticeable highlights. But songs like opener ‘Tie Me In The Van’ are simply too indebted to bands past to warrant exploration anew. Check out Hot Water Music et al for the gruff-voice-over-melodic-hardcore thing.

Still, actual faults are few – yeah you’ll have heard this thing before, but Neverthemore do it well, and are leaps and bounds ahead of a number of domestic peers in terms of competence and musicianship. That being the case, Neverthemore will hopefully serve as a decent foot-in-the-door release, enabling them to move onwards and upwards. In the grand scheme of things though, it’s only average.