This is not your average band. Here we have two brothers from Wales and a man from sunny St Albans. We also have a viola for a lead guitar and a drummer who is also the keyboard player. Often at the same time, just to show off. AND a rather good album, petite and sweet, clocking in at a trifling 31 minutes, eight songs short. Cardiff based Threatmantic are now signed up to Domino Records, after the release of a brace of singles over the past twelve months. And this album certainly keeps the momentum going, swerving from rockabilly stomp to heads down thump in just the first two songs. And even though their sound may not be the most original in the whole world, the way they produce it certainly is. Not many bands can claim to have a viola player in their line-up and it is certainly used with aplomb, particularly on the American swagger of ‘Don't Care' with its Welsh introduction and wailing chorus. ‘Get Outta Town' also features a rolling viola riff, ‘Little Bird' coming over in waves of noise and swirling keyboard.The only limiting factor to their line-up is the slender bass, often little more than repeated notes. Not that this matters too much when you have songs as effortlessly lovely as ‘Lonely Heart', relatively soft and delicate and a great way to finish things. This album never outstays its welcome and is rather invigorating in its own way. Viola's aside it doesn't re-write the rule book, but that doesn't stop the songs being on the whole rather wonderful. 61%Threatmantics on MySpace