Dutch punk group, Iceage, made their reputation in 2011 with their debut New Brigade attracting attention and praise from the likes of Pitchfork, which propelled the group to mix up the genre and attract the attention of uber-cool label, Matador. Now comes the group's follow up, You're Nothing, which recalls some sounds of label mates Ceremony and also Sub Pop punk crusaders Pissed Jeans, but takes the listener down a more depressive route.

Though crushed with hard-hitting punk walls-of-sound, lyrically, as guessed by the title, this is quite bleak, with Dan Kjaer Nielson's lyrics really helping to set the mood. On Ecstasy drug pleas ring true with lines such as "Which shade of Joy will hit me first". Whilst on In Haze he muses strongly about lost love, which is also a recurring theme on the record with the verse "What might have held us back, Is now a dead soul. It is a barren shell, withering in its hole". and the title track features "You're Nothing" being screamed over and over again in some kind of closing lyrical revenge on some of the dolfulness of the earlier tracks. So yeah, if things are going well this perhaps isn't the record for you.

While lyrically the record holds its own, it is the package as a whole that make this quintessential hard and fast listening with only a three of the twelve tracks pushing past the three minute mark and the rest averaging roughly a minute and a half. The production is quite crisp, considering the amount of grit coming across. First single Coalition is perhaps the most accessible track, with elements of the poppier side of hardcore seeping through. The record also feels as if it is split into quarters and it is the fork attack of Burning Hand, In Haze and Morals that prove to be the highlights of the record, encompassing the best elements of Iceage's debut and the future sound of You're Nothing.

The sound of Iceage seems to draw from several scenes along the punk journey, with the CBGB's days of coupled with a very modern interpretation of post-punk and hardcore which eclipses any sounds of the American punk of the nineties. If you like the jangle of garage then sod off back to The Black Lips because Iceage have brought a knife to the gig and they're clearly pissed at everyone who has at some point screwed them over.

- Brad Armstrong.