The opening discordant, overdriven stabs of ‘Hello Cruel World’ set the tone for The Primals debut album All Love Is True Love (Southern Lord), a tone that summons the spirit of the fuzziest, poppiest and dirtiest moments of Nirvana’s In Utero (Geffen) jamming with The Pixies and that is every bit as gorgeously sincere as that sounds. So it may come as a surprise to learn that this grunged explosion comes courtesy of John Henry of Metalcore savages Darkest Hour, accompanied by Chad Fjerstad (Dead To Fall) and Andrew Black (The Explosion), a project you’d, like me, have been forgiven to have expected to be churning something more crusty or Hardcore based.

And a joyous romp of distorted, grungy nineties worship with a requisite nod or two to DC Punk we have here, with each track displaying huge pop sensibilities – the chorus to ‘Another World To Call Your Own’ could have been penned and delivered by Ginger Wildheart, as catchy melodies are rasped over pumped-out, punked-up Surf Rock (one of several moments throughout that remind of The Wildhearts). A real hit, too, is ‘The Wayward Impaler’, with Henry channeling a Kurt Cobain talent for seamless switching between melody and an impassioned howl, linking his voice intrinsically to his similarly patterned guitar line as Henry, more renowned for barking and growling, effortlessly delivers unfussy, slacker melodies

Yet, don’t think this is a shallow tribute to a music scene of yesteryear; All Love Is True Love is a genuine proposition that is adorned with really, really good songs, serving to provide an exuberant passion for a style of music that truly married the off-kilter and alternative dirge with deviant pop hooks. ‘Pity City’ slinks into a Kyuss groove, while Henry leads us through an understated garage bop with a cascading riff with ‘Fortune & Sons’, as All Love Is True Love continues to show enough variation around a set of themes to provide interest at every turn, culminating in the melancholy ‘Save Me, Baby’ and barrelling closer ‘I’m Coming Home’, that spins off into a whale and wasp midsection.

Despite taking cues from a time and place in music that most identifies with downer introspection, All Love Is True Love instead inspires warmth and that unbidden happiness that good music cannot fail to invoke. Whether it’s the familiarity of the types of melodies in a way that feels constructive and progressing a sound rather than retrospectively copying or indulging in nostalgia, or whether it is the (true) love for the sounds and styles they have created permeating every pore, but this album is infectious and insistent, and there’s something about its modesty and lack of ego that makes it even more appealing. Whatever Henry’s plans with Darkest Hour are, I’d hate for this band to just be a side project, as this is a venture that, with the right nurturing and attention, could really blossom beyond something primal, into a fully developed genuine alternative music contender.

8.0/10

STEVE TOVEY