This playful outing satisfies on every party-starting score.

Scarcely two years after making a less-than-dazzling debut with 2010’s painfully unimaginative ‘Designed By The Devil’, Lesbian Bed Death have since dramatically revamped every inch of their once-dated and unwieldy beginnings. Owing no small amount of this recent progress to the smouldering charisma of fresh vocal recruit Kittie, ‘Riot Of The Living Dead’ sees these Stoke noise merchants process a lifelong love of classic rock into an altogether leaner, ultra-modern beast of a full-length.

Led by an instinctive knack for penning fiendishly infectious rock anthems, LBD raise audio hell in record time with many a Stones and Ramones-flavoured hook being brought bang up to date with radio-friendly songwriting and squeaky-clean production tactics. Coming off like a beefed-up Blondie, ‘Rockabilly Bitch’ is one such irresistibly sleazy number, with Kittie leading this punk-tinged assault with a rare mix of balls-to-the-wall attitude and streamlined finesse. Elsewhere, ‘Riot…’ is generously peppered with horror movie references but, as in the band’s debut, there’s no such darkness to be found within these strictly feel-good party anthems. And despite its affectionate references to iconic slasher franchise Scream, ‘Ghost Face’s’ giddy, surf rock-infused grooves and supersized choruses lean more toward teen movie territory than blood-drenched menace. Nevertheless, ‘Riot…’ also spans more than its share of moodier moments, with the brooding melodies of ‘Seven Days’ being artfully laced with rhythmic blasts of aggression.

With the sum of these tremendously hooky parts bordering inevitably on commercial rock, ‘Riot Of The Living Dead’ is hardly the edgiest or most original of efforts but, so far as entertainment value is concerned, this playful outing satisfies on every party-starting score.

Faye Coulman