Despite their confident, often heavy sound, rising alt-rockers Fizzy Blood are a band that don’t take themselves too seriously. Take the video for ‘Pink Magic’, the title track from their third EP release, which sees them being pelted with pink milkshake, or their recent press shoot posing with a cardboard cut-out race car. Combining the self-assured bravado of Queens Of The Stone Age with the British sincerity of Royal Blood, this Leeds-based quartet have the serious/fun ratio just right.

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The band recently commented how after a few years of trying to find their sound, they now feel “the happiest we’ve ever been with our music” – a self-confidence that’s evident from the off. The stomping drums, snarling vocals and grungey riffage of ‘Pink Magic’, make it an all-out, head-banging anthem. Similarly impressive is ‘CFO’, which at first sounds alarmingly like The Strokes (listen and you’ll know what I mean), before building into an explosive chorus. Things take a mellower turn with ‘Strangers’, featuring almost ’80s style synths, but in what has become a constant with Fizzy Blood, always with a strong guitar and bass at its heart. ‘Illusion’ then ramps things up again with its catchy hook and stomping drums; a confident closer to a confident EP.

Vocally, Benji Inkley’s tone at times verges on feeling a little forced, almost trying to emulate that slightly grating, love-it-or-hate-it American pop-punk whine. But for the most part, it comes off well both on record and live, evidenced by the impressive crowds they drew at Reading and Leeds Festivals this summer.

Although Fizzy Blood have expressed their unwillingness to not “let genre define us” and similar brash sentiments, it’s sometimes hard to see where this mantra manifests itself in practice. Is the bravado all just for show? All four songs certainly shout enough to make themselves heard, but there’s nothing obviously genre-bending or rule-breaking here. That said, for a band still in their comparative infancy, Pink Magic is a buzzing, big, and bold EP that promises exciting things for a debut full-length album to come. (7/10) (Alice Williams)

Listen to Pink Magic EP by Fizzy Blood here via Spotify, and tell us what you think below!