Nine Black Alps recently showed what they're made of with an electrifying 35 minute set at the Academy 3, well received by a rapturous home town crowd. Live, it's easy to mistake them for a simple Nirvana tribute act, especially with Sam Forrest physically and vocally resembling Kurt Cobain, but on this, their debut album, it is clear that there is far more to their musical palate than Seattle grunge.

Opener Get Your Guns gets things going with soaring twin guitars and Forrest's venomous vocals, sounding a bit more Jesus and Mary Chain (or Black Rebel Motorcycle, for the kids) than Nirvana.

Very scuzzy, very catchy and the perfect introduction to Manchester's best new rock band in years. New single Cosmopolitan certainly doesn't let up the pace, and although it is slightly less memorable, it's still a blisteringly good song.

The Nirvana comparison makes more sense with Not Everyone, which lyrically and musically sounds like something from Incesticide. It is certainly notable that any comparisons with Cobain's band have to be with their earlier output, as nothing off Everything Is sounds anything like Nevermind. That's not to say that Nine Black Alps don't have a poppier edge to their music, and Unsatisfied - while hardly Busted - is noticeably less heavy and sounds almost Weezer-ish.

However, Behind Your Eyes is even more of a genre shift, with the crunching guitars replaced by a lush acoustic sound,proving that the Alps are much more musically accomplished than some of the noisy tracks might suggest. Appropriately-named (if not appropriately-placed)Intermission is also acoustic and also has some lovely guitar playing and much more subtle vocals from Forrest.

In between those two quiet tracks though, are some of the album's highlights, including its heaviest song Ironside and Top 40 hit single and set-closer Shot Down. Just Friends certainly has the potential to be a chart success as well, as there's certainly more than a hint of a great summer radio song about it. Closing song Southern Cross is another graet tune, again with a Jesus and Mary Chain sound to it.

Although this review has named plenty of bands that Nine Black Alps resemble, we're certainly not saying that they are merely derivative, as this Manchester-based group are certainly better than that. Everything Is is probably one of the best rock debut albums of the year so far and if their show at Academy 3 was anything to go by, there will lots of people already waiting to snap it up, with even more surely to come...