This is a review of "Allusondrugs EP" recorded by Allusondrugs. The review was written by Paul Priest in 2014.

Allusondrugs formed in Castleford in 2012, recorded this EP in January 2014 (at Greenmount Studios in Armley, Leeds), but have been very busy out and about on the road in the lead up to this coming out. Even looking at their upcoming gigs list, they're not letting up.

Their first EP (6 tracks 21 minutes) is an incredibly hook-filled record which grows on you endlessly, wrapping itself around you like a warm blanket. It's an interesting one though, in that it starts off almost 'safe', in a way, and then by the half way mark and certainly by the end, they throw plenty of more oddball and heavier / more warped ideas that I was certainly not expecting.

In 'I'm your man', it has some catches that remind of both The Pixies and Sensefield, definitely one to get the head nodding and the foot tapping, before the slightly more ballsy 'Ted, what's the porn like in heaven' heralds the start of showing off a bit of the diversity that this band have in their armoury. This one has more of a Queens of the Stone Age / Kyuss type fuzzed up edge, with a few shouty vocals and dissonant bass parts that begin to knock you off guard. A massively catchy, quirky chorus arrives, and you sense that these guys have a huge amount of influences in their brains.

'Cherry Pie' has more nods to mid-90s noise rock than anything else. A much darker sound is introduced, heavier shrieked vocals amidst the creepy singing, off kilter lead guitar sounds, and then just passed half way through and out of nowhere, almost half way through a section even, they flick the switch and throw in a bizarre psychedelic edged, half time drop. It's like that moment in the middle of 'From Dusk Til Dawn' where the film is completely flipped on its head and you spend ten minutes wondering what on earth happened!

'Nervous' gives you another different style, is more laid back, downbeat but uplifting, weirdly, and has some lush, reverberating higher melodies wandering around in there. 'Sunset Yellow' drops another gear, and is a fantastic piece of shoegazey sounds meeting Weezer's first album. Rounding things off is 'Thingio', which could almost have been part of the 'Trompe le Monde' sessions, and is another one that throws in something completely bizarre and unexpected. It's not weird for the sake of it and not out of place, just brilliantly timed. This is the perfect ending after all that has gone before too, as they save one of the best sections for last.

Allusondrugs are, in essence, great 'simple' song writers, but they know how to bring something absolutely different to the table as well. Classic, timeless indie sounding music that is dashed with a surreal sauce that makes them a completely unique meal to enjoy. John Peel would have had a field day with these back in the day.