Mike Vennart of Mancunian post-prog stalwarts Oceansize takes some time out to answer a few questions about touring, releasing an “ambient” EP, and Una Stubbs.

Person L show that good things can happen when people get bored of playing pop-punk-emo; The Positives is a patchy but promising indie-retro-rock album.

Gibraltar-born nu-metal survivors Breed 77 deliver their fifth album, Insects; the music is pretty decent, though the lyrics are somewhat lacking.

Bristol rockers Riot:Noise competently revive the classic British hair-metal sounds of the early nineties on the Fight The People EP.

Belgian post-everything outfit The Hickey Underworld manage to impress with their unpretentiously taut and hook-laden self-titled debut album.

New reviewer Jonathan McCalmont cuts his teeth on the chilly magnificence of The Life We Have Chosen, the debut album from metalcore Scousers Carcer City.

What if Curve had been based in Seattle and listened to A Perfect Circle albums through a wormhole in spacetime? Luder’s Sonoluminescence, that’s what.

More Belgian oddities from the Jezus Factory in the form of Static Moves, Sukilove’s new album of… whatever you’d call this stuff. Antwerpian alt-psyche-pop?

It’s been a while, but finally there’s new music from Oceansize… though if you only like their heavy stuff, the Home & Minor EP isn’t going to do much for you.

I think I’m pretty safe in saying that, unless Rugrats is your favourite piece of daily television, Zwounds! and their single “Predator 3″ are not meant for you.