Kokopelli is a curious choice as the follow-up to Kosheen's debut album (Resist). Where, on Resist, they made plain their Bristol heritage with their emotive take on dance, here they let slip a previously unexpected affection for goth rock. Gone are the urgent breakbeats and surging choruses; replaced by metallic guitars, desolate melodies and smothering melancholy of the kind that Evanescence or Skin rejoice at. And while the leap from brooding dance to brooding metal isn't the biggest, in the process they've lost one of their greatest assets: the ability to make emotionally wrought songs out of drum & bass. Thankfully then, their other key feature, singer Sian Evans' haunting, folk-hued vocals, remain just as potent and affecting. More than equipped with the drama and longing needed to pull off their transformation, she brings alive "Wasting My Time"'s tech-metal, adds substance to the FM-radio thrust of single "All in Head" and breathes an air of malevolence into "Avalanche" and "Wish"'s murky Depeche Mode synths. So even if Kosheen aren't quite the unique entity they once were, they're still easy to pick out of the crowd. --Dan Gennoe
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