This is a review of "O Fracas EP" recorded by O Fracas. The review was written by Richard Garnett in 2004.

Unfortunately promising Leeds outfit Very Arcane are no more! But fortunately for us the majority of that outfit have regrouped under the peculiarly named O Fracas. Not only have they regrouped but they have taken what was a promising debut onto the next level, added some great female BV's, some extra venom and starting to sketch out a map to big things!

This five song swipe is like a brain dump of ideas - they come thick and fast, each track abundant with pace changes, arm wrestling guitar riffs and off kilter melodies. It's like baking a cake and putting in too much sugar, the principle of it tasting sweeter sounds appetising, but it's probably too much to digest. However, these chefs clearly have plans and for those prepared to stick with them there is a real glimpse of what could be in closing title track "Fits and Starts" with its stuttering guitar line, machine gun drums and its grab-n-shake you chorus - splendid!

The other appetisers on the CD are cluttered but each in their own way throw out a moment or two of excellence pulling leaves in clutches from the books of The Rapture, Seafood, The Delgados and The Pixies. The cool low-key contrast of "Bats Under Bridges" drops the pace nicely from frenetic slices such as opener "Zeroes and Ones" and perhaps more should have been made of the cutting play out of "Forfeit".

O Fracas are exciting and ambitious, they're not quite ready to come out of the oven just yet but when they do, boy are we all in for it!