Reign Of Terror

It's been a while since we had a really meaty example of "second-album syndrome", but Sleigh Bells could be the ones to provide it.

The Brooklyn duo - singer Alexis Krauss and guitarist Derek Miller - were swimming in plaudits two years ago with the release of debut album Treats, which bore superficial and stylistic similarities to The Ting Tings' first album, but came cloaked in that New York veneer of cool. Loud but still packed with pop appeal, Treats deserved the priase, but you need a bit more to consolidate your hipster cachet.

Reign Of Terror came up with the right overture: first single The Comeback Kid is a sparkling - if pretty shrill - piece of New York new wave, an easy ear worm but no fresh challenge. It's left to other tracks to explore slight shifts in direction.

While Demons and End Of The Line - straightforward slithers of pop-punk - aren't those tracks, You Lost Me snakes into chest-beating ballad territory while Crush even looks towards the arenas. Sleigh Bells aren't that sort of band, thankfully, but they need a clearer view of what they actually are. Until then, it's just the latest wave of NY noise.

Album Review by Matthew Horton