THE graveyards of pop are full to the brown brim with egos broken by failure in America.

Try too hard, remain too bangers and mash like Oasis and Robbie Williams, and the wash of rejection is all the stronger.

Try some Irish charm, however, and just maybe the results will be more propitious. Like so many Irishmen before them, Ash's eyes have been turned towards the USA as a land of new opportunity. "I always think American records sound better sonically; they always seem to have better engineering, better studios," says songwriter Tim Wheeler, buttering up Uncle Sam.

There is a sense of wonder as the wide-eyed interlopers play with the big boys in Los Angeles, and although the fireball imagery on the CD cover is more worthy of This Is Spinal Tap, Ash have pulled off the "real guitar-based album" they promised. Under the influence of Foo Fighters and System Of A Down producer Nick Raskulinecz, Ash's phosphorescent fourth album has sprouted metal wings yet retained the punk-pop tentacles and melodic hooks of their indie past.

Meltdown puts the riff in terrific.

Updated: 09:39 Thursday, May 20, 2004