Rocket Science Different Like You by: Ed Butler Mon:14-Jul-08 Label: High Spot Year: 2008 WB rating 41 out of 100

There is a story, probably apocryphal, that when Rocket Science frontman Roman Tucker awoke from a coma induced after a fall at a gig he was played their 2006 release, Eternal Holiday, and, suffering from amnesia, wondered aloud "these guys are good, who are they?"

Doctors apparently were mildly concerned at the lack of memory, but perhaps should have been more worried about the absence of taste. After bursting to prominence on the back of 2002's Contact High, the Melbourne four-piece had produced a shockingly prosaic mess of garage-band cliché, with none of the wit or individuality of their previous triumph.

Contact High, meshing a horror-movie ethos with a solid grounding in danceable rock grooves, was nothing short of a revelation. Big single 'Being Followed', with its creepy keys and overtly paranoid vocals was among the local songs of the year, and 'Economic Decline', all driving bass and punchy yelps, resonates today as much as six years ago.

So with the release of Different Like You, many fans may have anxiously hoped for a return to form. The likelihood of that is quickly dispelled around ten seconds into 'Sinful Cowboy', rudimentary 60s rock beats leading into simple garage riffing and vocal panting which simply feels inappropriate during such an insipid piece of rock.

And unfortunately it gets little better from there on. While Rocket Science clearly benefit from their grasp of up-tempo rock, the overwhelming banality of Different Like You is inescapable. Guitar riffs that years ago were engaging become a pale shade of beige, a join-the-dots, nearly-AC/DC imitation, stripped of any raucous appeal and exposed as inferior. On Contact High, the guitar was a support player, offering texture to the slinky keys, Tucker's original lyrics and trademark theremin. When thrust to centre stage, they routinely fall flat and uninspired.

Speaking of Tucker's theremin, which was employed with expert precision and restraint on Contact High, it doesn't make an appearance until midway through, on 'Weekly Dreams'. And, unlike many bands who routinely flog novelty instruments to death, this is a bad thing. It added layers of texture and colour, and sadly is almost absent.

However, if it were not for the prism of Contact High through which this album is necessarily viewed, Different Like You may stand up better. Drummer Kit Warhurst does a solid job of keeping things upbeat, despite what appears to be the band's leanings towards dropping the intensity of some tracks. Meanwhile, 'The Clones' manages at least a semblance of the kind of thing that we know Rocket Science are capable of – although still suffering from a lackluster Tucker melody.

On their debut album, 2000's Welcome Aboard the 3C-10, Rocket Science closed with the title track, the first take they made of that particular instrumental number. And it was, barring some fairly rough recording techniques, nearly flawless; ultra-kitsch keyboards recalling the B-52s, a classic bass groove and just sufficient theremin scraping in the background as to be endlessly thrilling.

By contrast, Different Like You closes on 'Alive', which is eerily reminiscent of a struggling garage band attempting to capture and replicate the success of clones like Jet and Wolfmother, with a burst of 60s psych rock guitar tossed in. Perhaps that is exactly what they were trying to do. Either way, it doesn't work, and fans are left, once again, hoping that in future Rocket Science can recapture the magic.