400 Blows - Angel's Trumpets And Devil's Trombones (Gold Standard Laboratories)

As 400 Blows' distant spiritual cousins Lightning Bolt, Big Business and USAISAMONSTER have unilaterally demonstrated, when push comes to shove in the face, there really is no need for an abundance of members, or anything beyond standard musical weaponry. With the unbeatable power of rock on your side, voice (Skot), guitar (Christian), and drums (Ferdinand) handle the task in hand with rippling muscle to spare.

"He knows he's not the best/He's not the only one/He's just a player in this game/Just a number with a name," spits Skot, struggling to restrain utter contempt for life. He and his band may facially resemble 'The Average Guy' they're railing at, yet this isn't ordinary. Rather, it's a cunning subversion of everyday existence, dressed in police uniforms to rouse minimum suspicion.

Splendidly, Angel's Trumpets… simultaneously crackles with the same frantically indignant, scathing will of the dearly departed Mclusky, only with extra krunk-bass bottom end and the mucky influence of producer Alex Newport.

With defences lowered, all that remains is for 'Electric Wilderness' - no exaggeration, one of 2005's greatest songs so far - to relentlessly pull out massive gonzoid riff after humungous hulking riff, until you question if there'll be any left for other bands to play with. 400 Blows, and not one of them a body shot.