Popstar

This quartet combine heavy metal and punk rock zeal with enough pop sensibility to take the bulk of the irony out of their name. It’s obvious why Popstar are being touted as the next young Irish band set to make it big - a cute, charismatic lead singer, flanked by impressively hirsute guitarists, offering songs ranging from toe-tappingly good to downright excellent.

They trade in the catchy feel-good punk of the likes of Green Day, but with added gravitas due to a darker, heavier edge on certain tracks, like Deftones without the grimly morbid fascinations. They also have all the crowd-pleasing qualities of The Revs, without straying into cheesiness, though their hardcore cover of Aha’s ‘Take On Me’ is pushing it slightly.

The Phantom FM-familiarised rock-out ‘System In Decay’ had the adolescent Blast gig regulars joyfully bouncing off each other, while their forthcoming single ‘Better Off’ should see them winning quite a few more hearts. In fact, I don’t know whether Louis Walsh’ll try to sue ’em or sign ’em.