London three-piece Neils Children haven't quite made the impact that everyone expected them to after the magnificent squall of 'Come Down' punctured the airwaves last year. Somehow, I don't think they'll be waiting around much longer if this is anything to go by. Even singer John Linger agrees on the frantic 'Always The Same', spitting out the warning/threat/promise "it's getting closer, I can feel it..." over and over again like a subliminal cleaned-up version of tourettes.

Better still though is the awesome 'Stupid Band', which basically sounds like The Cure being forcefed amphetamine coated mushrooms in Syd Barrett's larder, Linger going one step further from his earlier summising that "If I can't make it, no one can...". Most bands would kill for something as venomous and caustic as this, which says something for the standard of Neils Children's output that they can afford to stick it on a b-side.

Not that everything revolves around noise and confusion in their world. 'Run Before We Can Walk' is actually - shock of all shocks - an acoustic track which draws its influences from the aforementioned Barrett to Graham Coxon's earlier solo work, ultimately providing Neils Children with an alternative direction to go in should their manifesto to be the loudest, most aggressive band in the world go tits up.