Slovenia's Dirtswitch describe themselves as 'post grunge'; well if the original grunge movement was hard to categorise by a single 'sound' as all the front runners of said movement had very different, individual sounds, then paradoxically the 'post grunge' tag is surely a much easier one to define.

Let me see; Creed, Bush, Nickelback, Alter Bridge, Foo Fighters...and so on: melodic, riff-based, verse, bridge and chorus, rock radio friendly music, born out of a yearning to be heard and loved by the masses. That's what's on offer here, and if that's your thing then there's enough here to keep you happy for sure.

There's hook-heavy tunes that slowly build to stadium filling choruses, there's the occasional ballad that will have you reaching for the sky with your lighter, and it's all liberally layered with soaring guitar breaks that will have you searching for the tennis racket, and enough "yeah, yeah, yeah" to make you hoarse if you attempt to sing along, 'Looking Back' being a prime example of them dropping the tempo, and just daring you to resist the slick balladry they offer up.

'Comatose' is full of Eastern promise during the intro, cleverly kicking back into a huge melodic riff that would have probably reigned supreme on '80s MTV, and closing track 'Today' will struggle to shake off obvious latter day Scorpions comparisons.

It's a decent debut, well played all round and very well produced and has a definite market aim, personally I don't fall into that demographic, but I can appreciate the craft. Rock radio stations the world over should love it, and if you love the bands mentioned earlier there's every chance you will too.

www.dirtswitch.com/