GROON

Fronted by little-known guitar demon Tim Crowther, they're a UK power trio hell bent on terrorising the neighbourhood with a nasty dose of old school pyrotechnics. Refusal to Comply is a Lancaster bomber in an age of Phantom Jets: an oily, clanking hulk primed with enough early Mahavishnu, King Crimson and Alan Holdsworth licks to blast a flight of Guitar Institute wang-bar widdlers to smithereens. With just the dark frosting of guitar synth for company, this is full on electric jazz-rock the English way - noisy, indulgent, over enthusiastic and recorded in fits and starts at London's Pathway Studios - the home of punk. Indeed bassist Algy Ward was once in the Damned, but it's far more the Johnny McLaughlin and Billy Cobham obsessions of Crowther and drummer Steve Clarke that shape this almighty barrage, as well as exposing a quaint love of 70's progressive era tune titles like "School read more...