DUE to the many lofty comparisons that have been leveled at Glasgow-based duo Pinact over the course of recent months, it would’ve been easy to be disappointed by their debut full length Stand Still And Rot, an album which many have been waiting for the emergence of with baited breath.

For those of you that such a description applied to, rest assured that the band have more than delivered, producing a record which contains all the traits that had been accredited to to their material and harnesses them as a fuel to concoct an innovative sound.

Opening in a hail of abrasive feedback, the record’s title track serves as an excellent indication of the aural assault that is to follow, brimming with gleefully confrontational guitar and visceral percussion.

Taken in the broader context of the album, the previously revealed ‘Anxiety’ remains every bit as impressive as when it initially surfaced. Setting off with a flurry of pulse racing drumming and an immediate riff that imposes itself upon the psyche, it sees the two piece producing a sound that tips its cap to the heady days of Bleach-era Nirvana along with contemporary fare such as Cloud Nothings and Japandroids. Amidst the rambunctiousness of it all, this track serves as the firs indication of the pop sensibilities that lurk just below the surface that comprise an integral part of their sound. This sets them apart from the slew of acts that are content to merely re-capture the spirit of a genre’s past glories.

Loaded with unbridled aggression and an acute sense of restlessness within its central riff, ‘Scars’ takes on an interesting form as the essence of Sonic Youth teams with the joyful exuberance of pop-punk. Adopting two disparate sounds from a bygone era and re-invigorating them, it demonstrates the band on peak form.

‘Into The One‘ displays frontman Corries Gillies channeling the vocal eccentricities of Mark Arm throughout its chorus, while ‘Negative Thoughts And Jealousy’ sees the band putting on a clinic in crafting lo-fi rock that will remain firmly within the annuls of a listener’s mind.

Beginning with subdued and melancholic chords, ‘Limbs’ is an immensely tender ballad that still heeds the dynamics of the record overall. Almost cathartic in its lyricism, Gillies bares his emotions upon the track, assuring someone who he’d once been close with that their affinity is still intact and can be rekindled. Punctuated by intermittent bursts of squalling guitar that meander behind his amiable delivery, it at all once descends into an onslaught of wailed exultation’s and intense guitar.

‘Brew’ re-adopts the nature of that which had preceded ‘Limbs’ and does so in style before the hard-hitting ‘Terrapin’ displays the band composing a slice of unabashed post-punk that bears hallmarks of various tracks upon Husker Du’s Candy Apple Grey LP.

The enthralling melody of ‘Up Or Down’ seems as though it was custom built to be bellowed back at the band in a heartfelt manner, with lyrics that depict a conflicted mind with a great degree of accuracy.

‘The Beginning Of The End’ contains a remarkably driven riff that nods to the illustrious ‘Babes In Toyland’, broken up by a brief interlude in which the track is stripped back to its bare bones and yet sounds like it could be a stand-alone composition; fully demonstrating the strength of the songwriting which is found throughout its duration.

The sheer tenacity of the all too brief ‘Spill Yr Guts, Let Out Some Noise’ is something which must be heard to be comprehended, structured around one of the most gripping progressions on the album, it is then engulfed by disorienting tangents of guitar that make for a truly captivating listen.

Rounding off with the slacker pop based ‘Novembore’, Stand Still And Rot can only be described as an excellent record and one which is accomplished beyond their years.
Holding the listener’s attention in the palm of their hands from the very first fuzz-tinged note to Gillies’ final impassioned declaration, the album captures a band with an almost unprecedented ability to align amazing songwriting in the traditional sense of the term with a plethora of more strident influences.