Everything about Large Mound’s second album – title, songs, cover (especially the cover) – suggests that this an attempt to climb aboard the Darkness bandwagon and keep the kitsch metal irony flowing. Not so. Even though the four piece have been most definitely been, as their debut album put it, raised on rock, this is no mere retread down some big haired ‘80s path.
They look like some kind of US hardcore band and there are certainly elements of that to be found on Go Forth And Amplify, notably in the wall of guitars that features throughout. Anthony Mackey’s vocals recall the more lo-fi end of the rock spectrum, often disappearing amongst the mass of effect pedals on the likes of ‘We’d Love To Stay We’d Play For Free’. As for those metal roots, they start to show whenever Mark Jordan let’s rip one of fretboard-melting solos. It’s this mix of styles that makes Large Mound such an intriguing prospect. It doesn’t work all the time but there’s enough here to warrant further investigation.