Bringing the season of goodwill and peace to all man to a screeching halt, Kent trio Mourning Birds deliver a much needed slice of ragged, earth-scorching, garage rock that is so ear bleedingly loud and ferocious that it could even raise your Great Aunty Marjorie from her comatose sherry slumber. Drowning in razorblade riffs, grizzled basement grot and a rabid energy that hits like a giant slap round chops, ‘Exile’ is a nerve jolting piece of pent-up nihilism that takes a defibrillator to the spirit crushing grind of small town boredom.

More boisterous than snarling, Jimmy Gilder (guitar, vocals), Sam Mitchell (drums, vocals) and Bill Williams (bass) don’t strike you as a band who spend too long pondering life’s big existential questions and struggling under the weight of the human condition. Instead, their ‘1-2-3-4’ rush of Ramones invective, and clattering storm of early Nirvana and snotty ’80s punk, is a release of noisey-boysy angst that bounces off the walls with a grinning exuberance. It’s a blazing two-minute adrenalin shot that pits Mourning Birds alongside raucous contemporaries such as Savages and Wet Nuns, and kick-starts the new year with a gloriously scuzzy, hard stomping battle charge.

Having had an incredible year, wowing crowds at The Great Escape and receiving acclaim from the likes of NME and Radio 1, Mourning Birds have now released ‘Exile’ as a free download. You can get it here.

Kevin Irwin