Laruso - 'A Classic Case Of Cause And Effect' (Autonomy Music) Released 18/05/09

OK, so they might not sound like they’re from the city of steel, but they are and their metal, the kind that reinforces your faith in British rock, is much more than a no man’s land of been there, done that, riff rebellion.

Like all bands of their genre, Laruso tick the boxes that justify wearing a disapproving parent badge of honour with pride; or not as the case may be if your folks are into Tony Christie (guitarist Carl Bown’s uncle who makes a guest appearance on ‘Heresy’) or Manfred Mann for who drummer Max Williams’ father played guitar with. Unfortunately they’re not related to Danny ‘Karate Kid’ LaRusso but the Sheffield based derivative have perfected their musical equivalent of the crane kick with an equally devastating force that reaches far beyond the safety of the South Yorkshire valleys.

Family trees aside, their latest album ‘A Classic Case Of Cause And Effect’ wastes no time in exhibiting, alongside a penchant for wordy titles, a stop start balls out approach through album opener ‘This Isn’t A Moon It’s A Space Station’. It’s a gargantuan sweat stained affair but one that’s kept under control by a quality not to be underestimated; their ability to work as a band. At times Liv Puente’s vocals are a larynx scrapping law unto themselves but without the monolithic riffs, congruent bass, matching drums and a surprisingly welcome undercurrent of melody that frequents the swath of considered choruses, they’d arguably matter little.

Laruso have by no means tried to reinvent the wheel, but an albeit clichéd innate understanding of how to separate their music from a Guitar Hero hooked living room of no-hopers is evident by an above average appreciation of production values combined with moderation and excess in equal measure. Illustrating this semi-schizophrenic ability are the sedate blows that ‘Overture’ piles upon the frenzied Strepsil deserving attack of ‘End Of Level Boss’ under the instrumental mediation, complete with strings, of ‘String & Cellotape’.

They might have honed their craft within the confines of a two-fingered salute, but Laruso aren’t ashamed to colour their sound outside the genres established lines, and it pays off with an album that’s far more than a half-baked excuse to throw a collection of guitar ridden noise around a junk filled garage.