The rock music scene may not need yet another hard rock band with gloomy album art, gloomy and loud vocals, and gloomier lyrics but guess what? It's coming, ready or not.

Velve's debut album on Just Music has that familiar hard rock sound and the metalish lyrics to match. Take the opening track headless "Burn it all and simplify / Built for blood / I always die", which may be about a particularly memorable blowjob. Or not. It's hard to tell with certainty what this "goddess on her knees" is up to. And if you try to make sense of the vaguely adolescent-sounding songs, you'll probably ruin them for yourself.

If instead you abandon yourself and just enjoy the sense of grandiose self-pity, Theo Crous's buoyant production and the powerful sounds, it's easier to see why Velve are making such a name for themself on the competitive local hard scene. Their overall sound is pretty certain to appeal to fans of The Narrow, Parlotones and other Jo'burg-scene bands. But do they have these bands' promise? Not quite. Trucker's vocals seem to veer off the note now and then - something that works for Fokofpolisiekar poetic words, but not so well with Velve's over-earnest lyrics. The melodies are pleasant but not unforgettable. And hearing how miserable someone is over and over again is a bit "so what?" after the third track.

Velve's many fans will be very happy to get their hands on a copy of "Selling Skin", but your average hard rock collection will survive without it.

- Jean Barker

Hear our podcast with the band. If you click this link, it will open and play in a seperate window. You'll need broadband to stream this 80kbps file. Or you can Just download this episode. Enjoy!