Mogwai: Mr. Beast

Herald rating: ****

Sonic sound worshippers' fifth and most accessible album IN THE beginning, Mr. Beast seems like any other Mogwai album. It's intense, atmospheric, and slow to start. The feisty Glasgow Mega-Snake kicks in like a cat - not a tabby, more like a tiger - toying with a ball of string. Punching the music round the room, reeling it in, and smacking it out again, it's the Mogwai of old.

Then, with the gentle third track, Acid Food, comes an indication that this is their most accessible work yet. While the searing beauty remains, there is a predominance of delicate songs, often with a dulcet and country-tinged tone to them. The My Bloody Valentine influence also stays, but there are dashes of 90s shoegazer bands like Ride and Slowdive too, as well as the woozy psychedelia of Spiritualized, and the trippiness of the Stone Roses. But this is no early 90s tribute, this is fresh and now.

Emergency Trap is a sprawling soundscape, the beautiful piano mantra of Friend of the Night is stunning, and just when you thought it was all too tranquil, Folk Death 95 smoulders into existence.

These five Scottish noise-lovers stay loyal to devotees who fell forthem on their 1997 debut album, Young Team, and the years in between. But the great thing is how they've moved a little outside their comfort zone to create a different type of album and one of their best yet.

Label: Spunk/EMI