Letdown: Ben, James, Nathan and Scott kick open this three track EP with the title track "War Of Words" with throbbing guitar and it is clear that these guys know how to rock!  Ben's vocals and lyrics throw a great contrast into the tracks; ultimately rocky but still with a twinge of 90's indie kid there too. "Your Deception" is a corker of a track (perhaps marginally more memorable than "War Of Words") and is almost cinematic sounding, but not as much as "Wait And Wonder" which I can almost fantasize playing Grand Theft Auto : Vice City to on the PS2 - blowing up police helicopters with rocket launchers whilst stealing cars and driving them at a speed that your mother would disapprove of. It's hard, fast, heavy and the balance of vocals and drum fills make this almost epic. In their War Of Words... they will no doubt win.

Terry Nation's cd is quite a contrast to the usual floods of band cds that The Band Agency gets sent.  This one is not rock, punk or metal and has a distinct fresh air blast of wit, amusing observations of life and i sense a rather dry humour that wouldn't go amiss on a Moloko or a Bowie album, back to his 60's days with Decca when his songs were more story-like but at the same time the album is somewhat electronica tainted with a slight pop undertone which brings it up to a contemporary level too. It takes a couple of listens to "get into" but once you do, its addictive, fresh, witty and incredibly compellingly catchy. The band's website states that they release a new track every month as they have written a lot of new material for "people and aliens" and if the new material is anything along the lines of any of the songs on "Amber" then I can't wait. Geniuses!

The Christena Maloney Band return with this brand new eponymous cd. The potent combination of Christena Maloney and Richard Hudspith as musicians has always worked and has always managed to touch home their songs... but now the duo has expanded to include Ant and Craig on Bass and Drums respectively and this gives the band a whole new platform to perform on.  Christena's vocals and lyrics are warm, rich and thoroughly emotive, blending this now with the rest of the band really gives their sound a boost after a long time as an acoustic act.  The band are still very much an acoustic/folk one but all three tracks on this cd ("You", "Million Daydreams" and "Into The Background") are perfectly carved in that familiar style, blessed with a little piece of 60's feeling courtesy of the Bass. The Christena Maloney Band once again prove themselves just as able to hold their style on cd as they can on stage. Fantastic.