KINGS Of Leon clearly haven't read the script concerning 'difficult' second albums.

Released next Monday, A-Ha Shake Heartbreak has taken their Seventies' stoner rock and fuzzy blues to a new level and is a huge leap forward from the breathless, albeit throwaway, thrills of 2003's Youth & Young Manhood. Caleb Followhill has a great knack of sounding semi-conscious, while singing as though his life depended on it.

The constantly changing tempo is sublimely refreshing. Opener Slow Night, So Long has a magnificent bass melody set against some typically high-energy riffage, while they let the good times roll with chorus handclaps on King Of The Rodeo. Caleb performs some tortured yodelling on the old-fashioned, acoustic Day Old Blues and first single The Bucket is the clearest echo of The Strokes. Julian Casablancas et al must now fight to keep up.

Updated: 09:06 Thursday, October 28, 2004