These guys must be wetting themselves with glee riding on the crest of the Steampunk trend as their contemporary take on Victorian history and characters with very strong sense of humour that has a lilt of Madness to it (The Ska band, not mental illness). Sure, technically they aren’t really Steampunk, but they’re all too well educated to come up with a better alternate history then some fashionista who likes dressing like some glorified adventurer for whom pretty brass gadgets laden with cogs are accessories. They also know their music lessons very well, as they through the whole gamut of rock (Excluding Goth Rock, on account of goths being miserable gits and this is a happy band).

After a brief intro, we launch into the sanguine “Victoria’s Secret”. “Margate Fhtagn” swerves between happy Madness style humour to Metal with vocals that gargle phlegm by the pint but rather appropriate, given it is a song inspired by H. P. Lovecraft. “Doing It For The Whigs” is a song that would do the Clash and any Thatcher hater proud with its loathing for the UK Conservative party, even if they are singing about the nineteenth century incarnation when the Duke of Wellington was Prime Minister. “The People's Common Sense Medical Advisor By R.V. Pierce M.D” is a nimble song about the woes of masturbation and the medical view of self abuse at the time. It’ll bring a smile to your face, even if it does have a slightly revolting taste given the subject matter.

“Free Spirit (live)” is a real drinking song of a track that could have been in the Music Halls if it wasn’t stuff the censors of the day would have banned with almost sexual glee. “Brunel” is a proper seventies Punk song about the famous engineer Isabard Kingdom Brunel which puts both the Steam and Punk into Steampunk. And I thought it was all goggles and gaslights for would be rich adventurers. “A Real Dead Ringer For Albert” is a flash of the pan that finishes as quickly as it starts. “The Great Stink” recalls the Sewage problems of the Thames and how it drove London insane with the smell. “Tesla Coil” brings the infamous inventor into the bedroom and misusing one of his inventions for contraception. “Mutiny In The Common Soldiery” howls and riles against the soldiering career at the time and yet still has meaning for today’s attitude towards war. “Poor Georgie” is the ballad of a man who dropped his kid off at the wrong shop instead of getting proper day-care, and goes in onto a hidden track that rounds it all off. Good thing too as “Poor Georgie” wouldn’t finish the album properly.

With the mischievous grin worthy of old hands Creaming Jesus, they show us what nineteenth century England can be like with the right view, just like the revolutionary book The Difference Engine (By William Gibson and Bruce Sterling, in case you were wondering). A must for the music collection and for Music Hall fans.