NOT many bands get to record their debut mini-album in Chicago with venerable Pixies/Nirvana/PJ Harvey "engineer" Steve Albini, and then record their full-length debut with U2/Depeche Mode/Smashing Pumpkins producer Flood, but hey - not many bands have made such an immediate impression as Newcastle's yourcodenameis:milo.

An enthusiastic Fibbers crowd were blown away by an impressive showing from the post-post-hardcore troop, who created their very own intense, angular planet of sound.

Much of the band's parentage can be traced through the work of Ian MacKaye; from the hardcore punk of Minor Threat and the pioneering "emocore" of Embrace, to the more experimental work of Fugazi. They share with Cave In and Juno the skyscraping anthems which build high then dramatically plummet, and the strangled yelp of singer Paul Mullen owes much to the passionate shrieks of Cedric Bixler, mainman in the now-dead At The Drive-In and the happening-right-now Mars Volta.

The aural onslaught was relentless; a gigantic drum sound was matched by wave after wave of mutilation from the triple-guitar offensive. This was punk rock music with something against you; music with the vigour to gouge away at your skull until your broken face submits to the cause.

Yet as they launched head-on into the white-hot single Schteeve, it became clear that what marked the band as remarkable was their inventiveness; awkward song structures were balanced with sharp-as-a-cactus changes in rhythm.

As long as the band refuse to tame these more complex elements of their sound, they will soon be loved all over the world.

Updated: 15:26 Thursday, October 07, 2004