They first went over as grunge tourists with debut Everything Is and now, with second album Love/Hate, Nine Black Alps have successfully crafted the musical equivalent of a green card application. Rarely has a British band of the past five years been so deserving of a US post code and flux capacitor-powered DeLorean to transport them back to the flannel covered, Doc Martin-wearing days of the early ‘90s.

Not that this is necessarily a bad thing. There are far worse crimes in the world than trading in the power-chord driven rock that characterised classic records by the likes of the Pixies, Nirvana and Sebadoh. Great records are great records after all, and frontman Sam Forrest and co. are certainly unabashed in expressing their love of said influences. Even to the point of heading straight to LA, hanging out in hip Silverlake and recording songs up in the Hollywood Hills with an alt-rock mega-producer to get the sound just right.

The result still has the same grunge backbone that’s been their calling card since day one, but this time they’ve let a bit of that Californian sun in through the cracks on tracks like opener ‘Bitter End’ _and ‘Everytime I Turn’. Both songs slather a pop sheen onto the band’s former angst while pledging allegiance to the brighter moments of the Lemonheads’ back catalogue. Yet if it’s the sludgy, grungy, darker tunes of old you crave, then don’t fret: ‘Heavier Than Water’_ finds Forrest tackling lyrics like, “I can’t stand to hear you talking like I don’t exist”_ with the gruff pomp you’d expect from a lad weaned in the church of Cobain.