American rockers Beautiful Skeletons score points on their new EP for not actively sounding like anybody else currently doing the rounds.

Broadly speaking, their relaxed, almost woozy metal has an air of the late twentieth century about it, but the band are savvy enough to throw in little splashes of electronica into the mix to spice things up a little, whilst vocalist Tina isn’t afraid of mixing her vocal approach up in service of the song if required.

Consequently, on tracks like standout cut Victim Loop, the band sounds comparatively fresh and alive compared to the competition. Concentrating on extracting maximum impact from simple structures and refrains, and powered by some nice drumming from percussionist Huwy and a beefy wall of sound from guitarist Einar and bassist Jason, the band come across as taut and compact, coalescing around Tina’s thoughtful vocals to pleasing effect.

Butterfly Pinned Under Glass has a poppier sensibility, especially vocally, but there’s a slight prog edge to the instrumentation that keeps things the right side of interesting, and the overall feeling you get from Temperance as a whole is of a band that’s really got the ability to go places moving forward. Luckily for them Wormholedeath is just the sort of label they need to nurture them – and for now the future looks pretty bright for Beautiful Skeletons!

Temperance releases on May 10th.