ANOTHER band to nearly drown in a tidal wave of hype last year, Australian rockers The Vines found themselves propelled from suburban garage rehearsals in Sydney to hysterical front pages in the music press.

While their debut album, Highly Evolved, veered dramatically from raw Stooges-meet-Nirvana garage rock, to a contrasting melodic, Beatles-esque streak, the follow-up, Winning Days, finds them exploring the middle ground of their sound. Frontman Craig Nicholls is still unafraid to take risks, vaulting from psychedelic falsetto to heads-down riffing on TV Pro, going all mellow and folky on Autumn Shade II, and cranking up the rock on Ride and FTW.

It is a warmer, more layered and considered record, but, despite a few raging riffs, not an immediate one - there is nothing here that grabs you as a strong single. Maybe it's the songwriting, or maybe the production, which buries Nicholls' voice. They are still a genuinely good band, but this "difficult second album" is not the record to make the world fall at The Vines' feet.

Updated: 08:40 Thursday, March 25, 2004