My Vitriol

Released on 5 March 2001, Finelines was My Vitriol's debut and, as it turned out, the only studio album the London band would release for well over a decade. Recorded at Linford Manor in Milton Keynes with producer Chris Sheldon (Foo Fighters, Biffy Clyro) co-producing alongside frontman Som Wardner, it gathers up the singles the band had been firing off since 2000 and threads them together with short instrumental interludes into a restless, 16-track whole.

The record moves fast and rarely sits still: the Foo Fighters–sized rush of "Always: Your Way," the Sugar-esque churn of "Cemented Shoes," the power-pop lift of "Grounded" and the 38-second nu-metal blast of "C.O.R. (Critic-Orientated-Rock)" all rub up against the drifting, My Bloody Valentine–indebted haze of "Infantile" and closer "Under the Wheels." Every song was written by Wardner, whose layered guitars and bittersweet melodies drew the Billy Corgan comparisons that followed the band around.

Finelines reached No. 24 on the UK Albums Chart and delivered three UK Top 40 singles, capped by "Grounded" at No. 29. Drowned in Sound handed it a 10/10, and it's since become a cult touchstone, cited as an early flashpoint for the nu gaze scene. A remixed US edition followed in 2002 paired with the B-sides set Between the Lines, but the original 2001 mix remains the version most fans reach for.