Sally O'Mattress

“Gritty, raw and passionate,” in all the right places, Blackburn, Lancashire outfit The Burn earned their live spurs on a rake of recent guests slots with the likes of Oasis, Ian Brown, Paul Weller and The Coral. Not surprisingly their Hugh Jones produced debut comes with the kind of straight-off-the-road-and-into-the-studio immediacy that can sometimes reap rewards but can prove problematical.

Kicking off with a pair of anthemic rallying cries in ‘Calling All’ and ‘Fight The Fire’ it’s hard not to be reminded of The Levellers in their crusty, polemic prime, the bombastic 1980’s textures and a lyrical obsession with the elements adding to the overall dated feel. Though a welcome early respite from the thunderous opening salvos, the acoustically strummed ‘Big Blue Sky’ sounds like another one of those so-so Brit-pop ballads that were all the rage a decade ago, the meteorological observations reaching a height here with all manner of howling moons, rising suns, rain and, yes, blue skies. The nearest thing to a pop song, ‘Drunken Fool’, also a recent single at least has the appearance of a half decent tune while the country blues of ‘Water To A Drowning Man’ skilfully recreates the Rolling Stones in country blues mode circa Let It Bleed.

Though permanently at boiling point and seemingly angry at something or other, these otherwise highly touted Northern lights failed to, er, ignite these ears.