Christmas has come early for psyche, freakbeat and space-rock aficionados: following the acclaim of their 2013 debut Pearl Mystic, the second album from the devout DIY-band Hookworms is a structured and refined barrage of noise and veiled melody; a six-track record with three instrumental intervals (or rather moments of respite, in the form of disconcertingly quiet drone-based ambience) stuffed into just 35 minutes. Tough and burly like their ear-bludgeoning former record, tracks like The Impasse and Beginners emanate an energy so febrile and frenzied it’s the sort of devil rock you’d imagine parents from the god-fearing right ought to protect their teenager’s ears from. Where the group from Leeds’ impressiveness lies is in their lighter, less mangled moments however; the groovy, gothic disco of On Leaving, or Off Screen, a sprawling song heavy with a feeling of melancholy; their most shoegazey, Jesus-and-Mary-Chain-moment yet.
