Nine tracks, twenty six minutes on the dot, no messing about. Just how we like it!

American crustmongers Bones do a sterling job on new album Vomit in reminding you just what it is you love about filth-encrusted, low-end debilitation. Theirs is a simple, no-frills modus operandi, but none the worse for that. Perhaps their biggest plus point is that, despite being unreconstructed gutter-dwellers, this is a band that isn’t afraid to throw in a bit of melody into the murk; It’s quite startling when this happens, as it does on the superb Death Sentence, and even more so when it’s mixed up with blast beats as it is on the frantic Noose. Either way it’s pretty energising, taking the listener back to the ‘anything goes’ nature of early crossover in the mid eighties. Beyond Possession anyone?

But wait, there’s more; The band examine the tribal elements of Neurosis on the rhythmic Retch, which also brings to mind Sepultura and, to a lesser extent, VoiVod, and close out the set with a kooky, krazy take on Van Halen’s She’s The Woman which might, just might, wrest the title of ‘my fave VH cover’ out of Kory Clarke‘s mitts.

The title track is a bona fide, certified ripper, with the final result being an unmitigated success from start to finish. Albums like this, albums that fearlessly just mash up great influences with no other agenda other than to see what comes out the other side, don’t come along very often – but when they do they invariably end up being called ‘must hear’ records. And so it is with Vomit.

Vomit is out now.