It's okay for a listen or two, and may raise a few chuckles, but ultimately there's so much better stuff to spend your hard earned cash on.

You know you're potentially in trouble as a reviewer when the band's press release is just a little too wacky. I mean, I know Kyle Gass was half of Tenacious D, but the album doesn't need to be sold to reviewers with a press sheet that chuckles at its own creativity, because what we really like is solid information. I think that was a rant, so rant over and let's take a look at the actual music.

'Thundering Herd' is most definitely an album of two halves. One is the Rocking half, and in fairness the guys deliver some pretty good tunes, starting with the upbeat, riff-lead 'Cakey', a track that Rocks out nicely, even when Gass introduces a recorder solo. It's a sign of the quirks to come, but feels good at the time. 'Regretta' follows it up with a little more pace and a more basic Rock structure and although it's no kind of genius, it's again a nice little track. After this, things get stupid with 'Bro Code', a flouncy track that isn't fun or amusing.

The band dip back into the Rocking well afterwards for a couple more tracks and, like the openers, they're pretty good (with pretty poor lyrics but there you go) without threatening to set the world on fire. After this there are three painful offerings they call the 'Member's Only Suite' – acoustic and not at all amusing, they're a waste of time. 'Mama's Ma' tries to get the Rocking back on track, whilst 'Gypsy Scroll II' is the album's "tribute", and a pretty good track in its own right. 'The Best We Could Do (In The Time Allotted)' is the band saying goodbye in a fun way, and strikes the right notes between amusing and Rocking.

I really didn't like some of the tracks on 'Thundering Herd', and if I'd bought it would be pretty pissed off. The tracks that I do like are pretty good but don't really inspire too many repeat plays. What we have, in summary, is a band that would not be reviewed or released by a big company if it wasn't for the big man above the titles. It's okay for a listen or two, and may raise a few chuckles, but ultimately there's so much better stuff to spend your hard earned cash on.

Alan Holloway