Idol name, idle nature: peroxide Billy has hardly been burning midnight oil since his last album of new tunes back in 1993.

It's fair to say the rock world hasn't been waiting in a breathless state of anticipation for the follow-up to Cyberpunk.

But Bill's back and this time he is bare-chested, sneering and resplendent in that famous weather-beaten leather jacket.

Not much of a change of image, and the former Generation X frontman, whose vacuous White Wedding rock helped make Seattle grunge such a life-affirming necessity, is still playing the same old tune.

Scream and Super Overdrive will appeal to the leather-clad converted, and the reflective, country-tinged Lady Do Or Die is cloaked in a world-weary haze, but this feeble attempt to 'rawk' again is mainly Jovi-by numbers.

Yellin' At The Xmas Tree would shame Spinal Tap into submission.

Updated: 08:49 Thursday, April 07, 2005