Victorian Halls

It's a bit tricky to pin down Victorian Halls — part hyper-fast Death From Above 1979 dance punk, part meaty Refused guitar sludge and part weirdo Panic! At the Disco piano theatrics. But for everything in the sound-alike grab bag that is the Chicago quartet's new self-titled EP it amounts to not much more than an admittedly pretty spot-on Blood Brothers love fest. Though at times surprisingly cohesive and undoubtedly attention-grabbing, with its front-and-centre hooks and the piles of spastic noise underneath, this EP easily makes a handful of rotations before revealing that, like a small child with something to prove, the energy is almost too exhaustingly unrelenting. For most it'll probably boil down to a love or hate proposition, but the effortless complexity of standout track "I'm Gonna Eat Your Brains and Gain Your Knowledge" showcases the potential that Victorian Halls have, as soon as they figure out how to authentically channel their influences into something their own.