Ergh, Finch. I’ve panned them before, and after just a few seconds of this new double A-side single (backed with 'What It Is To Burn') I feel a similar experience coming on real fast…

Yet I’m feeling, I don’t know, generous perhaps? Should I wake up and realise that Finch are, you know, okay? Y’see, whilst the title of ‘New Beginnings’ is pure irony (it sounds ridiculously tired, be it post-hardcore, nu-emo or whatever), it’s actually not that terrible, with considerably more spunk than Finch’s last single ‘Letters To You’ (dull dull dull). It’s also a lot, lot better than a lot of the efforts from the hundreds of bands following in the wake of Finch’s commercial success, but still shit compared to nearly everything in your collection (no doubt). Considering how many bands have followed the Finch gravy train (I'd plant a bomb under Drive-Thru if I knew exactly where it was), it’s hardly surprising to hear vocalist Nate Barcalow hollering “What is left for me?” Not much mate, unless Kerrang! is still giving you mad props come your next album.

The slasher-flick intro to ‘What It Is To Burn’ is mildly exciting, but the song soon becomes a boring plod through tried and tested nu-emo waters. It’s not even half as strong as ‘New Beginnings’, which is really saying something for its lameness. “She’s the only one that knows what it is to burn” exclaims Barcalow over a wash of lifeless violins. Burn what exactly? Maybe she’s the one buying up all the Finch records and making them as big as they are? Well, I suppose that’s okay as long as she’s burning them all. Basically, bands like Finch are a plague – if you’re not affected you can afford a smile, you bastard; if you are, you’ll be washing for days, because there’s more shit here, across a mere two tracks, than you’ll find in Biff Tannen’s car across the whole Back To The Future trilogy. So much for that generosity.