The scourge of "second album syndrome" isn't a lack of imagination, nor talent. It's this urge to sprout a social conscience. You can almost see the collective thoughts of artists careering through the ether - "right, we've lured them in with our catchy hooks, our delirious frivolity, our devil-may-care abandonment of lyrical content or cohesion. Now we have a platform upon which we can impart our pressing impressions of our environment." There are those who encapsulate it beautifully (Bloc Party's A Weekend In The City), and then there are those who don't (Kaiser Chiefs' Yours Truly, Angry Mob). This is the embittered second album grumbling about the boils and toils that come with fame. More melodious that its predecessor, it still contains raucous pogoing tracks with repetitively trite bleatings - but thankfully it's peppered with its moments of beauty. The swirling, tinkling delicacy of Love's Not A Competition (But I'm Winning) and the delightfully off-kilter Nick Hodgson offering, Boxing Champ, bring the only glimmers of promise for the Kaiser's future. Given their years (Wilson is knocking on 30's door), and the nature of their music's bulk, it won't be long before they start alienating their adolescent audience. Not many will take a grown man delivering clumsily constructed musings, including "All I need is a ball and a wall/Or a sledge and a hill", seriously. Those that do find this appealing (largely lager-swilling terrace fodder) might also find the remaining commentary too introspective, and thus offputting. This realisation has yet to resonate with the Yorkshire troupe - a point typified by their oh-so-sombre cover sleeve headshots, the album's title, and the unfortunately ironically tinged "I must go out on a high" sentiments present in 'Retirement'.
