With four 'suspiciously brief' five star reviews of their debut album Contact! Contact! (2007) on Amazon, London based indie rock band Tellison release their 'sophomore' (to you and me, the 'difficult' second) album.

A typically NME festival friendly release, it's a powerful and accomplished signal of intent that should more than satisfy those who enjoy the indie post mainstream rock genre. Peppered with catchy up-tempo tunes, big choruses and emo vocals, Tellison are a band as good as any in their field, but let's be under no illusion, it's a crowded marketplace.

That said, the band have a support slot to Biffy Clyro under their belt and when they break out of the indie straitjacket with the occasional nod to Coldplay style balladry/stadium rock - as on Freud Links The Teeth And The Heart, Tell It To Thebes, and the set closer My Wife's Grave Is In Paris, it shows they have the potential to reach a far wider audience than most of their contemporaries. Their sound also has more 'muscle' than most.

There's no doubt The Wages Of Fear will serve the band well at sun drenched summer festivals this year. But it's difficult to tell where their aspirations lie. At the moment they seem to sit on that fine dividing line between and indie and classic rock fan.

On balance The Wages Of Fear finds the band in the former camp, but at some stage Tellison are going to need to decide which fork in the road they want to follow.

***

Review by Pete Whalley