WELSH metal is on a roll. From preening in Pontypridd to bowel bashing in Merthyr, there's a healthy interest in our bands. When Reason Sleeps are a new addition to this school of hard riffs and from next Friday there're a few chances to see them near you.

The band, who are from Abertillery and Merthyr Tydfil, released their debut EP, This Bullet Makes Us Equal recently and are now pushing it across the UK.

They're definitely a large part hardcore as are Lostprophets, with whom they've played many times, but there's a lot more to their sound than that. As well as the pseudo-melodic shenanigans and desperately angst-ridden drivel so many bands seem to stink off, there's a more original streak of the New Romantics about them.

"Oh God yeah, we love the 80s," chime twin vocalists Sean Smith and Alex Wiltshire. "I just wish we were doing what we are doing now but in the 80s. I wish I could go back in time and be a member of Kraftwerk."

So while tracks like A Complete Guide To An Awkward start might have familiar takes on Iron Maiden's stop-start riffs and umpteen changes in tempo, there's also an eerie vocal interlude and an electronics driven finale akin to SPK.

Between the two there's a Godflesh-like mesh of organised noise before the band get back to the jaunty metal riff.

"We listen to anything - dance, classic even grindcore," explains Alex. "I know it sounds clichd but we make the music we want to heard," says Sean. "We do our own thing. It's not like we're saying, 'this is what the kids want to hear'.

"I have to say though one of our favourite bands ever, like a lot of people, is Glassjaw, but we all have different issues," says Alex.

The EP has been released on local label Lifetaker Records and was launched in Clwb Ifor Bach, Cardiff during the summer.

"We had interest from Polydor, Atlantic and Sony," says Alex. "But instead of waiting for funds from them our manager started his own label. "There's no need for us to wait for all this money."

For more info surf to www.whenreasonsleeps.co.uk