With post-hardcore currently in some sort of stagnation, it's about time one band shoved their hearts in their mouths, pulled their fingers out of their asses and damn well took a chance. Welcome Christiansen.

'Stylish Nihilists' looks like it should be a pool of pretentious wank. The band all share the same band surname, a la The Datsuns, and the title alone suggests a band too busy trying to be full of clever ideas to actually stamp on their pedals and fucking ROCK. But rock they do, and some. Producer Sal Villanueva may have been responsible for a couple of post-hardcore heavyweights, notably Taking Back Sunday's 'Tell All Your Friends' and Thursday's 'Full Collapse', but this makes the both of those sound like the Tweenies and Daphne and Celeste respectively. It's monstrous from the very outset; 'Kentucky Goddamn' sounds like the great lost Glassjaw song that would've made their 'Worship And Tribute' bearable.

Christiansen have taken a gutsy risk with 'Stylish Nihilists', and have succeeded in producing a record that ups the post-hardcore ante considerably. 'The Middle Finger' alone should have avid followers of Funeral For A Friend wondering exactly why they've been lapping at the feet of a bunch of Welsh chancers rather than tasting the real thing. Christiansen want to kill pop punk, they want to fuck with genres, they want to mix Blood Brothers lyrics with riffs so big **Shai Hulud would run crying to their moms. Shit, they probably want your soul too. But you know what? Let them have it. This will be the blueprint upon which all post-hardcore in 2004 will be based.