For their first album since sacking their drummer Stuart Cable, the Stereophonics have gone back to the drawing board and found a new sound. Language. Sex. Violence. Other? is in part a return to the hard rock roots of the Welshmen’s debut, but also features buzzy basslines and electronic effects that add energy and freshness to the songs.

With its chiming guitars, toe-tapping tune and catchy chorus, the first single, Dakota, is easily the poppiest song here, although the midtempo Rewind, with shimmering background sounds and shades of 1980s U2, could be the bigger hit. Elsewhere, Stereophonics meld 1970s rock riffs to grooves with more mixed results. The snarling Deadhead should win over impatient Oasis fans, and Kelly Jones sings a superb falsetto on the electro-rocker Superman, but Brother and Pedalpusher’s attempts to make Stereophonics sound sleazy are at best unconvincing.

(V2)

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