Fourth album from this New Zealand crew and it's as good as anything the band have produced so far.

For the uninitiated, The Datsuns mix garage punk (OK at the lighter end, maybe a touch of guitar pop) with hard rock, with most tracks punchy, uptempo and catchy.

The opening two tracks are good rockers, but "Your Bones" adds a real blast of high fuelled blues rock with a pop edge.

It's rare that any darling of NME would be enjoyable in rock circles but The Datsuns achieve that.

The album is nicely varied, with "Yeah Yeah Just Another Mistake" featuring some catchy pop chants and a decent roaring guitar solo". "Eye Of The Needle" is a slower pace, a pounding bass and almost tribal drums. In amongst the pop the guitar riff occasionally nods at Black Sabbath.

Onto side 2 (they're obviously vinyl freaks, even on CD) and the next two tracks "So Long" and "Cruel Cruel Fate" are brighter more indie led tracks. The keyboard sound is reminiscent of 60s garage.

"Highschool Hoodlums" takes that sound into (just about) glam territory while keeping the indie punk feel.

Commercial guitar pop with punk and rock'n'roll and some well written songs, variety and some decent guitar work.

***½

Review by Joe Geesin

www.joegeesin.com