This is a review of "Moshy Peas EP" recorded by AB Negative. The review was written by Dave Sugden in 2002.

Defining yourself in a saturated market is hard at the best of times, and for many bands that choose punk or grunge the struggle is for acceptance when stereotypically most "piss poor local bands" usually fall into this category. Merely the thought of receiving a recording from such a young three-piece sends the preconception gene into overdrive. On the first listen AB Negative almost suffered at the hands of prejudice, but after a while their five-track EP develops into another cliché - "it's a grower" - with the piss poor element being merely the juvenile choice of title: Moshy Peas.

The opening track is Billy Idol: bubblegum punk circa Green Day's Dookie at the fore added to with alternative guitar pop sensibilities not dissimilar to those found on Weezer's eponymous album. Despite referencing two mid-nineties records the track does not sound dated and opens the EP well. At number two, Prozac is a bit naff.

You'd be forgiven for thinking Nirvana during Nihilist and Porcelain Man, especially from the initial guitar riff, though there is something lacking for AB Negative to quite fulfil such a comparison. The band's pop tendency detracts from the attempts at dirty grunge rock, though this is not a criticism. Porcelain Man in particular just fizzes along, while F**k You!!! goes one step further to the realms of being anthemic.

Ok, so while there is no easy or immediate comparison, it is 100% derivative all the same. A proven mix of guitar pop and grunge that many do poorly and AB Negative just happen to do very well.