This is indeed the band formerly known as Fox Jaw Bounty Hunters – and guess what? Ghost’s Parade proves that while the Limerick natives may have shortened their name, they’ve also expanded their sound. The follow up to 2011’s critically acclaimed debut The Devil In Music is the result of a year spent writing songs, with the renamed Fox Jaw refining their sound and bedding in new band members.
Taking their cues from later day Josh Homme and Mark Lanegan, while adding in a bit of blood-thirsty murder balladry (‘Afterglow’), a dollop of alt rock (‘Caked In Sin’), and a small dash of funk (‘Hijack’), the group have created a feast for the ears. Dark, moody and slightly schizophrenic, Ghost’s Parade sees Fox Jaw delve further into the unknown and produce an exciting sound that’s unquestionably their own. The Big Top rock of the oompah-ing ‘Food For The Soul’ is a brilliantly barmy offering, while elsewhere they channel their inner gun-slingers on the spaghetti-western flavoured ‘It Rings True’ and play the part of troubled troubadours on the haunting ‘Afterglow’. Though there are moments when they lose their way and sound a little laboured (‘Weasel’s Hammer’) Fox Jaw’s second opus is a fiendishly good listen and they sound like a band reborn.

Out September 19.