Stereophonics have become something of a comedy band in recent years - to most people without cloth sacks for ears, at the very least - but it wasn't always so. Their first two albums, 1997's Word Gets Around and 1999's Performance and Cocktails were both sporadically-likeable, if never life-changing endeavours that served their purpose well, and filled the Britpop-shaped void left in the UK charts at the time. It was with 2001's Just Enough Education to Perform that things started to go a bit leek-shaped for the Welsh trio (now Welsh/Argentine, following the departure of farcially-haired drummer Stuart Cable). With JEEP, Stereophonics abandoned their aspirations to write a well-rounded album with depth, and began writing songs with the primary purpose of filling stadiums. A brace of ineffectual, but relatively successful albums followed suit, and they're not about to change tack for their sixth studio effort, Pull the Pin, either. There's little here that will please even the most genuine of Stereophonics fans, as they'll have heard it all before; Pass the Buck's chunky rock gumph, Daisy Lane's stomping dose of beige pop, Lady Luck's Dadrock-esque attempt at the 'epic' rock tune - even the glossy production and laddish swagger of Bank Holiday Monday is totally sapless. Kelly Jones's 60-a-day-habit vocals are as bland and uninspiring as ever, too; there just doesn't seem to be a point in Stereophonics' existence anymore.