There is no messing around with Northern Ireland hopefuls, LaFaro. From the moment you press play on their second album Easy Meat, they grab you by the jugular scorching through the aptly-named opening track ‘Full Tilt’. Nor do they show any early inclination to let go.
LaFaro tear their way through masses of distortion and speedy riffage with all the bravado of raging bulls, vocals mercilessly plugging any gaps that appear. The pace and fury hardly ever lets up through songs like the highly charged ‘Have A Word With Yourself’, the menacing ‘Settle Petal’ and breakneck-riff-heavy ‘Easy Meat’.
It would be a catastrophic misunderstanding to mistake the heavy tone for angst.

Why? Because these guys don’t take themselves too seriously. As a result, Easy Meat has to be one of the most fun rock albums so far in 2011 with hilarious – and occasionally decidedly weird – interludes cropping up every couple of songs .These might annoy highly-strung types, but like Queens Of The Stone Age on Songs For The Deaf, LaFaro pull off the trick very effectively.
And there is one last trick up their sleeve with final track ‘Maudlin’ – a surprisingly mellow acoustic ballad showing they have versatility as well as high octane energy. Easy Meat is very tasty indeed.