Dead Fly Buchowski: Land Of The Rough

Herald rating: * * * *

There's nothing better than a bunch of scruffy, and quite staunch, Glaswegians launching into an album with a sludgy and beastly opener called Russian Doll.

But wait, there is. Even better, next track, Been Down Before, rumbles, trembles, and kicks along with the belted-out intensity of Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds. It's a powerful start, but with Didn't I Hear You Right the album takes a beautiful turn with frontman Roddy Campbell's voice taking on a pleading and passionate edge and the music becomes sweet, but somehow, still sludgy.

Campbell - who's the type of guy who wears long-sleeved shirts without doing up the cuffs - and his men lack the style of fellow Glasgow band Franz Ferdinand, but for originality, albeit in a more psychedelic and dirty rock'n'roll style, they are on a par.

During its heavy moments it is a tad too fierce to be sociable, but respite comes from swooning songs like Anyway, the slack Neil Young strum of The Way She Goes, and the nine minutes of The Sun Song, that go from wasted to crazed, is quite something. Land of the Rough is trippy, at times discordant, and always bluesy and rockin'. DFB deserve to be as big as Franz, but it's more than likely they won't be.

Label: Beggars Banquet