Welcome to the jungle.

The 2004 version of Ash is a heavier, more abrasive beast than the supremely melodic punk-pop outfit of yore. Opening with a nuclear take on 'Girl From Mars', from the off, Tim Wheeler and co. seem keen to illustrate that this time round, they're armed to teeth with sonic WMD, and frankly, they've got a voracious appetite for destruction.

Their new album, Meltdown, was recorded in LA with Queens Of The Stone Age/Foo Fighters producer Rick Raskulinecz, and it shows. Certainly by the time they kick into the excellent new single 'Clones' a few tunes in, it would appear that Charlotte has added a "10,000 banshees wailing from the depths of hell" distortion pedal to her effects board.

In fact, Ash haven't been this loud since they kicked out the jams to pain-threshold volume with the likes of 'Death Trip 21' and 'Projects' (which, tellingly, has now been reintroduced to the set) on Nuclear Sounds. However, unlike the doom-generation nihilism which pervaded that album, this time round they've married the gargantuan riffs to the bittersweet lyricism of 1977 and Free All Angels, to cumulatively spectacular effect.

As is often the case when bands have a whole host of new material they're itching to try out, the crowd become slightly restless midway through the evening. The Meltdown material sounds great, but there's no getting around the fact that we've come to hear the old favourites, and the band know it. To this end, towards the finish line they throw in stunning takes on 'Goldfinger' (which Wheeler introduces as "one of our favourite songs), the suitably incendiary 'Petrol' and Mark Hamilton's corrosive Sonic Youth tribute, 'Darkside/Lightside'.

In truth, a couple more old numbers - a 'Kung Fu', an 'Uncle Pat' or an 'Oh Yeah' - would have made this gig an unqualified triumph, rather than a defiant, if eminently enjoyable, declaration of artistic intent. As it is, Ash depart having made clear their modus operandi for the coming twelve months: they're gonna bring the noise and they ain't gonna stop 'til they get teenage kicks right through the night.

And to these ears, they sound very convincing indeed.