It is like all the best bits of 80s and 90s guitar music rolled up into one album.

Two former members of Welsh band Joanna Gruesome formed Ex-Vöid in 2018 and a debut album followed in 2022. ‘Bigger than Before’ highlights just how hard it is to be a band these days. It was brilliant, but didn’t do a massive number of streams and only a few small tour dates followed. This new album is even better, but when your style seems out of step with what is shifting major streams how do you even get by? No wonder so many bands are now having to hold down a day job to pay the bills. Not even a 5-star review in The Guardian seems to have had an impact. One live date has since been announced, at The George Tavern next weekend (15th February). Capacity is about 180 and the tickets went on sale at £10. I snapped one up, it will be epic, an absolute bargain. I will shout from the rooftops how absolutely brilliant this band is… but does anybody want to listen?

Nothing on this album reinvents the wheel. However, when the wheel in question is so perfectly round, so aerodynamic for the job it was designed for… why would you even want to mess with it? The core sound is full on indie-rock guitar band with beautifully structured co-vocals singing in near constant harmony, only occasionally splitting up for call and response or individual sections.

Every track recalls a certain band, or group of bands from the 80s or 90s, yet it never feels like a tribute act or anything less than a coherent whole. Mostly it shines out brightly, when they sing ‘You were a nightmare’ a nightmare has never sounded so wonderfully lush. At times the guitars move into scuzzier territory with more reverb, or a beefier rock sound, but the vocals keep it gloriously happy in tone, even when dealing with heartbreak or unwanted attentions.

I have been listening to this over and over the last few weeks, meaning to get a review down. This is a genuinely brilliant album that deserves to be celebrated across the land. I hope they get the success they thoroughly deserve.