Rips

'Rips' draws skilfully from the twang of CBGB-era punk, glam's robust swagger and Go-Gos pop-punk, imbuing the likes of small-town howl 'New Kid' with the assurance that comes from two decades spent playing in bands

The reason why Ex Hex Rips is so triumphant is that it easily attains its simple goal of presenting a total blast for the listener to savour. Or to take the title's bait, Ex Hex Rips rips. 

Rips mostly finds the band walking away from Timony's established voice and pushing toward something more direct and energetic—embracing the past, but also blowing things up and starting again.

There’s nary an ounce of artiness or innovation here, and it sounds almost hopelessly out of time in 2014, yet you can’t help but grin and love it just the same.

You could call it powerpop if you wanted, with the spectre of Cheap Trick haunting the bouncy likes of How You Got That Girl, though the bubblegum rock of Radio On and War Paint call The Runaways to mind just as easily, with Timony’s luminescent guitar-playing as much a hypnotic treat as ever.

One of the most entertaining chapters in Timony's career, Rips mixes simple pleasures and complicated ones into a completely life-affirming debut.

Rips actually ends up adding to her reputation precisely because she performs like she’s got nothing left to prove or lose with it. 

There are no flourishes, no accentuations on Rips, only precisely what needs to be there; noodling guitar parts and an unyielding punk aesthetic. 

There is an underlying message that sticks its middle finger up to modern day production and contemporary attitudes to music, as every song does exactly as it pleases with complete disregard to everything else happening in music today.

This all-female trio are the most exciting thing to happen to hard-driving power-chord grooves since Kathleen Hanna kneed us in the groin with "Rebel Girl."