Indicator Dogs: Anschluss

By RUSSELL BAILLIE

(Herald rating: * *)

The "Anschluss" was, of course, the annexation of Austria by Nazi Germany. So the Auckland band's debut wins points for the attention-getting title. And they sure can come on like a rap-metal Panzer on the dozen tracks, which come with a split personality due to a change of singers midway through recording.

They deliver a fearsome amount of hydraulic-strength and often tangential riffery, the sound containing identifiable echoes of Rage Against the Machine and Red Hot Chili Peppers and whoever that other band is with the singer who whispers scarily just before the loud bit comes in.

But after a while it just feels like that wall-to-wall angry bluster and deft musicianship is all there is.

Label: Antenna/Capitol