Medicate The Night
There's been quite a racket coming out of Wales in recent years and, despite its relatively small size, the list of the country's home-grown exports makes for impressive reading. Newcomers Milestone are the nation's latest noisemakers, offering up their modern brand of hard-hitting alternative rock with their debut EP.
The press release drenches the band in whisky and other such rock'n'roll cliches, but Motorhead they most certainly are not. Milestone's brand of alt-rock is slick, polished and as fresh-faced as the band themselves; the likes of thumping opener Dirty Knees oozing style and hooks in equal measures.
The music is punchier than a seaside puppet show, thanks in no small part to the modest-yet-effective guitar riffs and Lewis Pilling's excellent drum work. Blame Me adds some welcome swagger, fused together with a stoner-rock riff that brings to mind early Cancer Bats. The squeaky-clean production does this aspect of the music no favours, yet overall it works when mixed in with the band's more buffed-out sound. The impressive title track is a boisterous, modern blues rocker that nods enthusiastically towards Metallica's Load and Reload-era material, ending with a wah-pedal solo as if attempting to cement the comparison.
Every aspect of the band comes across as impressive and executed with precision, from Jack Howells' vocals to the dual guitars and the solid backline. By the time the slow-burning melancholia of Bless Your Soul fades out through a final riff, it's abundantly clear that the Bridgend four-piece mean business and have the talent to back it up. Milestone play tight, punchy, straight-to-the-point modern rock music, with a huge bag of energy and enthusiasm that all adds up to making Medicate The Night a hugely enjoyable EP. Their songs might lack substance at times, but their strengths as a band more than compensate.