Aww. It's nice to have them back, that Douglas lot. I thought they were gone forever.

And look at that, isn't it lovely? They're all grown up.

After such a long time away, bar the odd bit of road haulage with the likes of Capdown and Adequate Seven, 'B Is The New Way' is the _ real_ Douglas. It's what we've been waiting for.

Gone are Colin's slightly droning, monotone vocals, and in are some frantically melodic tunes that grab your ear lightly, and get tighter and tighter with every listen. Gone is the crap production that blighted earlier releases 'Persona' and 'Douglas', and in is a meaty, rawk** production that threatens to swallow you whole. Hyperactive riffs come thick and fast, and the drumming is tighter than ever. It's like that kid at school who was "alright" has come back after summer holidays with new shoes, and looks the fucking man.

It'd be easy to say that Douglas are jumping on the bandwagon by adding elements of post-hardcore into their sound, but beneath it all, still lies their scrumptious, melodic, bouncy punk base. They're straddling the line between the two genres, but do it oh-so-well. More of the same, please.