Reuben – 'Very Fast Very Dangerous' (Xtra Mile) Released 12/09/05

Clearly influenced by the likes of Dave Grohl and Queens Of The Stone Age, this post-grunge three-piece are looking to follow up on the relative success of their first album ‘Racecar Is Racecar Backwards’ with this second release.

Part of the stable of rock bands that brought us Hundred Reasons and Hell Is For Heroes – neither of which seem to be doing much now – Reuben are clearly hoping that their dumb and crunchy riffs will corner the Kerrang-loving market, where the main prerequisite for liking a band is just how loud they can play their instruments.

Not that this is necessarily a bad thing. ‘A Kick in the Mouth’ starts things off heavy, which continues for the next few tracks. They certainly love their guitars; though they attempt to employ a drum machine on the brilliantly-titled ‘Every Time A Teenager Listens To Drum & Bass A Rock Star Dies’ it doesn’t really work. Single ‘Keep It To Yourself’ is better, transporting you back to the halcyon days of grunge, while ‘Nobody Loves You Like I Do’ dabbles with string arrangements.

By the time you reach the seven-minute “epic” that is ‘Return Of The Jedi’, the sheer monotony of the riffage may prove too much, but this record should be successful enough within the hard rock market  to stop lead singer Jamie Lenman from having to worry about getting that office job just yet.