Don Broco, Technology - album review

Some hit many marks, while others are so far off the boil it's like that scene in Hollywood hit Gravity where Sandra Bullock is just spinning off uncontrollably into space.

Strange then, that this third effort from English rockers Don Broco sits uncomfortably in the middle.

Some of this is good, inventive fun. Genres are put into the grinder, chewed up and spat out Hacktivist-like into our eardrums.

Yet at other moments this either sits mildly in the centre of the road or is a little over-muddled in its mix and match approach.

We've got Don meddling with rock, 80s synth-pop, metal, funk and electronic like a schizophrenic child in an apothecary.

As mentioned, at times it's well-measured. The stomping T-Shirt Song is a riff-laden march through a festival field. It has a strangely pleasing brass ending that rounds off a percussion-led riot that will have fans bouncing around.

There is also Greatness, which again relies on its percussion to lead it. That cowbell opening is very Queens Of The Stone Age's Little Sister, and again the loud and brash choruses are the main hook.

Everybody, too, has a wickedly cool interlude in which Rob Damiani has a lot of fun with a half-rapped piece that oozes venom. The chorus harks back to the era of glam rock with its euphoric reach.

But it is when things get really pop that the record reaches its weak points. The Blues strings out dull electro verses that give way to louder, bass-led choruses that jar a little when B returns to A.

Then there is the frustrating Come Out To LA that pinches far too much from modern chart music and stands too far apart from the rest of the record to feel welcome.

Fans of the Don lads will probably eat all of this LP up and ignore pretty much every word we have written past paragraph nine.

We haven't wanted to slap the album too hard as there are some really good moments interspersed here. But when put next to the likes of Sparks and Franz Ferdinand, these genre meddlers don't quite stand up to the challenge on this album.

Rating: 6/10

Don Broco are playing at Birmingham's O2 Academy on February 15.