Heavy and soft, complex and simple, acrobatic and consistent; Paper Champion is all these things. Be aware, though, that the album never comes close to any of those bands in the heaviness stakes, filled more with emotion and nuance than pure chunkiness.

Named after a song from the Oceansize Music For Nurses EP, Paper Champion formed in 2005 and in the time since have built up touring credits including Birds Of Tokyo, Mammal and Dead Letter Circus. The EP was recorded with Rick Hollis, who has previously worked with Sunk Loto, but don't let that deter you. It actually sounds pretty good, production-wise.

"This Mute Tide" starts the record off safely, with a slow bass groove gradually building up to a chorus filled with vocal acrobatics from singer Grant Spencer, pushing the song ever closer to the cliff, but never quite going over the edge. The song builds up and the listener anticipates a mighty heavy crescendo, but the song subsides before the moment of truth. After the second verse the promise of an arse-kicking is finally fulfilled, with driving guitars and evocative vocals bringing the track to a close.

The second track ("Blindingly Confident") puts a stronger focus on the vocals, which is OK if you have Kim Benzie for a singer, but in this case I found myself hoping for something a little more interesting from the instrumentation. Spencer clearly has the chops to hit all the notes, but there's something about his tone which doesn't work as effectively when he is the sole focal point of a track, and the music doesn't have enough to hold the song together.

This is exemplified perfectly by "Teeth", which is a flurry of angular guitars, wandering bass, a constant, driving drum beat and vocals reminiscent of Mammal's Ezekiel Ox. Spencer really shines on the track because he's not so focussed on the aerial acrobatics, and his natural range is given room to shine.

"Undone" borrows the vocal talents of Erinn Swan (of Brisbane band Nina May) for a few well-placed vocal harmonies, starting out with an up-beat and sunny introduction and erupting into an epic second half. Guitarist Dom Alessio is given a lot of room to demonstrate his ample abilities throughout "Undone", and Spencer again provides incredible emotion through the high-rise vocal lines.

Swan's voice is once again heard on the final track, "Arithmetic", which is also the track most easily compared to another band. Its rolling guitar riffs, driving drumbeat and liberal use of vocal delay are reminiscent of The Butterfly Effect's "Always", but it does provide a little variety with a mammoth climax. The slow-building orchestral vocal chorus threaded with Swan's impossibly high operatic accents abruptly gives way to the most aggressive, pounding riff on the EP to bring it to a headbanging close.

Overall it's a good album with a dash of brilliance thrown in every now and then, and is undoubtedly a debut EP of which any band would be proud. It's packaged in a gorgeous digipak (yellow should definitely be used more often in cover artwork), and contains some good, solid rock songs; but it's clearly a first effort and Paper Champion will definitely be better for the experience. I'll be keeping an eye on them for the future.

If you're a fan of The Butterfly Effect or Mammal but want something more focussed on subtlety and emotion and not so much on heaviness, I strongly urge you to give Paper Champion a go.

You can hear Paper Champion on their MySpace page at www.myspace.com/paperchampionband.