Millionaire

For reasons unbeknown to DiS, Bullet Union seem tethered tonight. Perhaps it's the thought of the queue stretched around the back of the Buffalo Bar, many of them expectant and Belgian. Whatever the reason, the promising foursome are professional to the last, all rubbery basslines, breakneck guitars and perky onstage banter, but disappointingly restrained. Their scattergun punk, invigorating and startling when they're truly on form, sounds neutered where it should throb with vitality. They're more exciting when they loosen up and let their ideas play out in a frenzy of arhythmia, stuttering drums falling over twin guitar riffs that reflect off each other manically. Echoing Refused at their most righteous, it's proof that Bullet Union are capable of much more than they display tonight.

The years away from these shores have seen a stark change come over Belgian shapeshifters Millionaire. Last time they were here, supporting Queens Of The Stone Age, their elastic electro-sleaze delivering a nod to the Rapture, and impressing and alienating crowds in equal amounts. The Queens were obviously taken with them; Josh Homme's produced their new record, and their weight of his influence is more than apparent tonight.

The arrogance and showmanship that have characterised Millionaire from the start are self-evident but the Prince manoeuvres of old are swept aside to make room for an arsenal of stoner riffs and Jagger swagger. In Tim Vanhamel they have a camp funny frontman who spends more time in the air than on the stage, but their overt sexuality's grounded by the machismo at the heart of the supercharged riffing... for the first six songs anyway. Sadly they lose their balance mid-set and stumble into a murky cloud of fretwankery and unjustifiable self-indulgence. The riffs degrade from monolithic to monotonous, and the venomous, fluid electrosex that once separated them from the flock is all but forgotten under the rubble of the increasingly directionless stoner riffing. From such an initially startling, diverse band, it's a disappointing step backwards.