A lot of people think The Kills are too good to be true. They've been the subject of umpteen style magazine features, they've got self-consciously hip stage-names (VV and Hotel) and their boy-girl line-up makes them look like straightforward White Stripes imitators. Thankfully, this blistering second album makes a good case for taking them seriously after all. Entirely made up of minimalist blues riffs and sullen, sneering vocals, it's raw, claustrophobic and often nothing less than compelling. And if the musical debts to Joy Division, PJ Harvey and yes, the White Stripes are all absolutely obvious, they don't detract from the sheer power of these dark and sleazy rock vignettes. All in all, No Wow is an album that luckily fails to live up to its title.

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