8/10

There’s an immediacy to 'Human Cereal' that refuses to sit still. From the first moments, Hitlist establish themselves as a band uninterested in neat categorisation, instead embracing a volatile mix of textures and ideas that feel deliberately unpredictable. It’s a debut collection that leans into disorder as a defining strength.

Across the EP, the band channel a restless energy that calls to mind the jagged urgency of Shame and the wiry edge of Elastica, while also pulling in unexpected rhythmic looseness reminiscent of Talking Heads. Yet, these touchpoints never feel overly direct, as they serve as loose reference points within a broader, more erratic identity that the band are still actively shaping.

What stands out most is the EP’s refusal to settle into one emotional register. There’s frustration here, certainly, but it’s often delivered with a sense of playfulness that stops it from becoming overly heavy. Moments of abrasion are offset by flashes of humour or melodic clarity, creating a dynamic that keeps usengaged. It’s this tension between seriousness and irreverence that gives the EP its character.

Whether it's the blistering opener 'Liar' or the stand out offering 'Marriage Is Hard', 'Human Cereal' leans into rawness without feeling underdeveloped. Guitars shift between sharp, cutting lines and more groove-led passages, while the rhythm section maintains a constant forward motion, even when the songs themselves veer into unexpected territory.

As a debut EP, 'Human Cereal' feels like a snapshot of a band in motion. It doesn’t present a finalised version of who Hitlist are, but rather a series of ideas being tested in real time. And in that, it becomes an energetic, sometimes chaotic, but undeniably engaging first statement from a group still discovering the full extent of their own sound.