Musicians are a grumpy lot. Scanning my review pile the album titles read like a 15 year old goth girls diary; 'Three Cheers For Sweet Revenge', 'The Dead And Dreaming', 'Beneath..Between..Beyond', 'Spawn of Dysfunction' and this, 'The Wolves Are Hungry'.

But actually the album is pretty joyous stuff. Well obviously it ain't jolly but Peterborough's 'The More I See' have come up with a cool collection of gnarly metal anthems which sound surprising strong for the work of a debut album. Ex Prodigy guitarist Gizz Butt has a voice that sounds at times like a cross between Dave Mustaine and James Hetfield and the songs are peppered with classic metal riffs which make the band's music sound honest and heartfelt.

Mixing high squalling guitar solos with catchy melodies and big choruses the band are very melodic with their influences more on the side of classic metal bands like Maiden rather than the angular, discordant noise of younger metal bands. The More I See know how to make their songs interesting so pepper their music with a mix of Metallica like guitar melodies and very British sounding style. There's an interesting tran-Atlantic mix of styles to this music but it's good to hear that the band haven't opted for style over substance and have never once sacrificed the musicality of their songs for a bit of shock rock.

The More I See have a maturity to their music which only comes from spending years listening to everything from Maiden to Alice In Chains. With great powerful rhythmic sections and dark brooding lyrics they sound like a band who have been round the block a few times and whilst I am not completely overwhelmed by this album I think they are a very strong band who would be the perfect support act for giants like Motorhead.

<emma farrer>

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