Two years ago, El Diablo's debut album of alt.country duets marked them out as one of the brightest new bands in Dublin. What's happened to the trio in the meantime is anyone's guess - but on The Crooked Straight (named after a misheard Biblical quote), they sound like a shadow of their former selves. The ten songs here are impossibly world-weary and lethargic, almost totally devoid of the sprightly charm that was once the band's most attractive characteristic. And while the echoes of country heroes such as Johnny Cash and Gram Parsons are still present and correct, here they feel mechanical rather than anything deeply felt. Anna Carey, Patrick Freyne and Pol O Conghaile are all fine vocalists, and their whiskey-cracked harmonies provide the album with its few redeeming moments. But overall, this is a disappointingly one-dimensional effort - particularly when they've shown themselves to be capable of so much better.
