Lets get it straight; music is supposed to be enjoyable! Fungus are here to help clean out your ears and minds to remind you that, yes, music is allowed to be fun!

With their debut 1998 mini album Fungusamungus, they told us about having to pay bail, monsters from mars and the death of a pet snail. Now they’re back with Businvaders, The Right Atmosphere and Wasted Stars...(alongside four previously released tracks).

The energy they put into bounding across stages and touring the length of the country is also put to use in coming up with short sharp gems of songs. Recorded within two weeks, mostly with first-takes, you have to admit that they have indeed captured the impact of raw, live energy and urgency.

They may use some lyrics to complain and comment on areas of the music industry but you can’t help but feel that they are still those mischievous characters who sat at the back of the classroom, cracking chewing gum with Greenday but outdoing them in competitions of who has the heaviest guitars; who rubbed shoulders with Weezer; shared jokes with Supergrass in assembly; wagged lessons with the Pixies; whilst getting tips on the fun of rock from older pupils Terrorvision.

With irrepressible bounce, their album has enough energy to jump right back out the CD player. It’s nice to see different members of the Swedish band taking turns in providing lyrics and music for songs, which leaves traces of their varying metal, punk and skate scene influences.

Penultimate track Wild Honey is not written by the band, but is done more than justice as the sincerity of the melodious lyrics ripple out through the speakers against the guitars skate-punk sensibilities. Could anyone else make Chiffon style backing vocal moments sound acceptably punky!?

Opening track Businvaders is what would have to be classified as ‘a grower.’ Almost punk, but too polite to spit on anyone, with the addition of Grease style hand claps in parts, the track’s timings and bounce need time to feel at home with. But it is not simply used to fill up the album, instead it provides texture to their sound, which sets them apart from other punk-pop type groups around at the moment (‘Blink’ing at no one!). Perhaps an odd choice to put on first but it shows that unlike certain counterparts they (hopefully) won’t be letting their style grow stale.

The Right Atmosphere seems to have been captured on CD as highlights of the album include single A Fanclub Would be Nice, Real Me and Nicest Guy on Earth. Disappointingly though, when compared to the tracks here which featured on their mini-album, they do not present quite such capturing combinations - Over My Head cannot be beaten, although the fantastic new Wasted Star is a strong contender as a headbanging/anthemic/catchy/pop/melodious hybrid (listen to it, you’ll get the idea). Singer Johan’s accent can sometimes become slightly annoying for being more Americana than most Americans, however thankfully for the majority of the time it is an oddly endearing twang which helps the humour and fun within the songs to resonate.

A space fascination is obvious throughout. With the quirky electrical sound effects added you can almost imagine stars shooting across the skies and imploding by just getting caught up in Fungus’ boundless energy.

Listen with patience (or press the skip button!) after the final track and wait the for surprise addition of a warped ‘rock fest' type track Screamathon to confuse your ears; Perhaps an edgy parody of some of the inanely serious sportz metal phases happening at the moment, or Fungus just proving they’re thrashy, metal roots remain along with their almost unique humour, whatever the case, it’s fun.

The band request that you “bounce around the room and pretend that you’re in the sweatiest moshpit at a huge outdoor summer festival.” Pretend!? There’s no need to imagine, you can already smell the mud and sweat and feel you legs getting tired from endless jumping.

This is punk-pop with a unique Fungus-feel. They will invade your stereo and remedy your radio intake with a spoonful of sweet punk-pop sensibility (though as ‘rock fest’ proves you’ll need to watch out for the ‘rockhard’ centre), although we may perhaps ask for a spit more punk-edge next time.

8/10 Dawn Hoskin.

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