Every so often a gem of an album lands on your doorstep and effectively seeps into your brain for every waking moment. Be that a good thing or not please step forward Welsh four-piece, The Automatic with their debut album, Not Accepted Anywhere. The guys have built up quite a following after spending the last year gigging with the likes of Hard-Fi and The Ordinary Boys and there was much anticipation surrounding the release of this debut. With already established singles 'Raoul' and 'Recover', and let's not forget the instantly catchy 2006 answer to 'I predict a Riot', 'Monster', one has to wonder as to whether they can hold these standards for another nine tracks. Although there are one or two songs, which are weaker than the others and tend to slip ever so slightly into monotony there isn't one let down. The energetic guitars, refreshing keyboard use and dig at youth culture indicate why this band was hailed as one of THE bands of 2006.

'You shout you shout you shout you shout' and 'Lost at Home' dip into Kaiser Chief territory with an added punk twist. The only aspect that hinders 'Not Accepted Anywhere' is the sense that the vocals on each track are formulaic. A strong lead backed by Alex Pennies high pitched repeated yell dominates everything and a slight variation on this theme would not have gone amiss. And for the last words...'what's that coming over the hill? Is it a Monster? Is it a monster?' It was irritating for a few months after this was released in 2006.