Random Hand // Inhale/Exhale

It was last year that I first saw West Yorkshires' Random Hand supporting Voodoo Glow Skulls and they impressed me then with their energy on stage and their ability to combine different music genres effortlessly. Their recorded material is no less amazing with the same force of sound coming through the speakers. The second album from Ska-punk-metal-oi four piece Random Hand sounds like each member has taken their favourite parts of music and created a flowing, fighting record that you can't help but get swept along by. A mash-up is too simple and crude a term for the precision and work that has gone into this album, the guys are tight as, their anger measured and well vocalised, the courage of their convictions clear and the simple and the buzz that comes from their metal-ska mutant child is infectious. No one with a half-decent taste in rock music could dislike this album, there is literally something for everyone without getting the sense that the band are trying to please. This is honestly just what they like to play, and while they probably love the fact that they're playing festivals and supporting bigger and bigger bands, I get the feeling that these guys would play regardless, they would probably explode if they didn't.