CARTER THE UNSTOPPABLE SEX MACHINE: “Worry Bomb” (Chrysalis)

ANYONE WHO gets inspiration for their album title from Martin Amis is liable to be heading for big fucking trouble. Carter USM are excellent blokes with the best intentions in the world and an admirable ability to write rants you can dance to, but if they continue to produce albums like Worry Bomb they’re going to land themselves a reputation almost as unsavoury as Amis’.

The basic problem is that Carter show reluctance to stray more than a couple of inches from the formula they perfected about five years ago, and meanwhile, the pop-world has moved on, or moved back, or shuffled a bit to the side or something. Whatever.

The point is that they’re beginning to sound like self-parodists. There’s just too many of that type of Carter song that starts off with a tale of injustice (music business corruption, the rise of fascism, bad airplane food), adds vocals that start off relatively hushed and atmospheric and then GET REALLY LOUD to show how angry they are, and most importantly, throws in puns, and lots of them. I cannot listen to lyrics like “You say tomato/I say tomato/But I’ll never be a vegetable/You say Karl/I say Harpo/I’m politically incorrectable” without wanting to slap them.

However, there’s no arguing with the fact that five albums worth of practice has made them proficient at what they do, however limited it may sometimes appear, and to be fair, some of the similarity in Carter songs can be traced back to Jim-Bob’s inability to master any vocal technique other than the tuneful shout. There’s even the occasional flash of experimentation here and there, notably the strange sing-song title track, and the weary, subdued ‘My Defeatist Attitude’, not have they lost their eye for a good single (‘Let’s Get Tattoos’, ‘Young Offender’s Mum’).

Still, new drummer notwithstanding, this is old rope. Sturdy, practical old rope, but old rope nonetheless.

• Lorraine Freeney