All The Young - Welcome Home (2012)

Having boasted that they will 'smash 2012 into a brave new frontier of indie rock ‘n' roll,' Stoke four-piece All The Young have set themselves up for quite the fall with their debut album, Welcome Home. Treading the same career suicide path as Viva Brother, who made similar egotistical claims before releasing a record which sounded like a Northern Uproar tribute act, the band's fighting talk soon proves to have little substance. Indeed, like their mouthy Oasis wannabe predecessors, its ten tracks suggest Be Here Now is the only record they've been aware of since 1997. Echoing the stodgy production of the Gallagher brothers' overblown third effort, Welcome Home is difficult to wade through in one sitting. "Today," "Quiet Night In" and "Here To Stay" all follow the same tired laddish pub-rock formula, "New Education" and the title track are the kind of workmanlike acoustic numbers which Noel would casually throw away as a B-side at best, while Ryan Dooley's boorish vocals try in vain to emulate the swagger of his heroes but end up falling hopelessly short. The reverb-laden grungy intro of "The First Time" and the shimmering Americana twangs on "Arcane" are a little more promising, while the jangly 80s indie-pop riffs on "Another Miracle" perhaps explains why Morrissey recently offered them a support slot. But the bright sparks are few and far between on an album which far from being the game-changer the British guitar band scene needs, sounds more like its death knell.© Jon O'Brien /TiVo