Whatever you do, don't mention The Jesus and Mary Chain. Yes, Mainline may deliver a similar brand of shoegazey drone-rock as the '80s rockers, and yes, they may cultivate the same 'all black' sartorial style as them, too - but the Dublin sextet are understandably adamant that their sound is their own. Having said that, it's obvious that the Reid brothers are an influence - they employ the same repetitive reverberations and tenuous harmonies as the duo did. Try as they might to escape the constant comparisons to the same three bands - Velvet Underground, Black Rebel Motorcycle Club and the aforementioned JaMC - on this evidence, the parallels are wholly justified. What's more, despite the fact that they've previously released a limited edition 7" and 12" of their track Black Honey, this EP is, for some indefinable reason, being billed as their debut release. Strange. Here, singer Neil Paxton's nasal drawl provides a base on which to hang the constant wall of fuzzy guitars and lethargic thumps that epitomise the Mainline sound. The title track is a gravelly slow-burner, as are the dull 52 Strings and The Call. Existentialist poser Is God Dead? is something of an improvement - actually managing a semi-decent chord change - while No Compromise is a pared-back (some would call basic) effort that pays none-too-subtle homage to Brian Jonestown Massacre. Lyrically, a lot of the content here is trite and cliched, ("I've seen the rain fall like bullets from the sky" (?!)), but it's not for lack of trying. A disappointing lack of invention sees this Mainline release a disheartening triumph of style over substance. Pity.

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