Angrier than commuters on a delayed train packed with killer bees, The Icarus Line leap from a cliff and flap their heavy metal wings in a humungous hissyfit that makes Slipknot and Marilyn Manson look like kids' party clowns.

Branding the LA mosh-maestros a one-trick, devil-horned pony, would be doing them a grave disservice. Sure, bristling tracks like Spit On It and On The Lash firmly press all the right hard rock buttons. Yet frontman Joe Cardemone is no stranger to the back catalogue of The Pixies, Jesus And Mary Chain and My Bloody Valentine.

But gloom-laden, bass-heavy, harmonic tracks such as Caviar and Spike Island only lighten the black mood intermittently. As evil, thumping, furious metal screeches back to the forefront, one question springs to mind. Why are these four Californians so angry? Answers on a postcard of a sun-drenched Californian beach scene, please, to...

Updated: 09:00 Thursday, April 08, 2004