Album: Growing Pains – Dinosaur Pile Up

4 and a half stars

Every article you’ll ever read about Dinosaur Pile-Up will contain at least one reference to the Foo Fighters, and for understandable reasons. Matt Bigland, singer, lead guitarist, and main driving force of the band has never made secret his love of Dave Grohl’s outfit, and the opening tracks of ‘Growing Pains’ reflect this. Birds & Planes and Mona Lisa, both already released as singles, reek of ‘The Colour and The Shape’ era Foos, without ever sounding like a cheap imitation.

But, it’s only later in the album, when Bigland and co deviate from this sound, that the band’s potential becomes abundantly clear. They still remain enthralle

d by ‘90s Alternative Rock, with Broken Knee serving as a reminder to how great Weezer used to be, and Hey Man straying into real grunge territory. Somewhat surprisingly, it’s the album’s lone acoustic track, Hey You, that comes to mind as the sublime effort on ‘Growing Pains’; wonderfully simple in its lyrics and completely in contrast to the album’s riff laden start.

For a debut album ‘Growing Pains’ really is special, and most definitely justifies the media hype that’s been building around Dinosaur Pile-Up over the past couple of years. With the opening four tracks all fast-paced and heavy on the guitars, there was always the worry of the album becoming stale, but as the sound slows and the riffs take a back seat, Dinosaur Pile-Up come into their own. The latter half of ‘Growing Pains’ is undoubtedly superior to what proceeds it, thanks to a much more varied, yet still cohesive sound.

Top ten singles may not beckon thanks to Bigland’s admirable decision to spurn major labels in pursuit of complete creative control, but with a strong live reputation already, and now a high quality debut under their belt, Dinosaur Pile-Up could fast find themselves becoming cult favourites.

Charlie Rawcliffe, Music Editor