Album: The Young Gods <!-- none onestar twostar threestar fourstar fivestar -->

Super Ready/Fragment&eacute;, Play It Again Sam

The general difference between European and American artistic attitudes is neatly illustrated by The Young Gods. Despite laying much of the groundwork upon which sonic outlaws such as Nine Inch Nails, Ministry and Marilyn Manson built their careers, the Swiss trio typically failed to parlay their innovations into a career of their own. Having pioneered sample-based avant-rock, they seemed uninterested in its commercial potential. How European is that? In fact, they haven't bothered making a record in seven years - and now they have, it seems a pale copy of their previous triumphs, lacking the wildness and extremity of earlier albums like TV Sky and Second Nature, despite the Zeppelin-weight jackhammer beats and distorted guitar riffs of tracks like "I'm the Drug" and "Freeze". It's not a bad CD -they can still stir up a lava flow of noise like "Stay With Us" or "El Magnifico" - but overall, they appear to have settled for a generic space-rock sound not best served by rubbishy lyrics about "the monkeys in the sky" and "some kinda cosmic order".