Resurrection men

"Portrait of a family / Force fed through tunnel straws / Singing cannibal hymns of the bourgeoisie"? Ah, At The Drive-In, how splendid to have you back.

It's been 16 long years since 2000's stunning Relationship Of Command, the album that broke them in more ways than one, but the first new song from their forthcoming album, 'Governed By Contagions', doesn't disappoint in either its ferocity or Cedric Bixler-Zavala's pretentiously cryptic and verbose and yet oddly enthralling lyrics. To be honest, it's a relief just to discover that they can still knock out a punch-packed sub-four-minute vaguely linear rock song, after Bixler-Zavala and Omar Rodriguez's prog odyssey with The Mars Volta.

Meanwhile, one of Rodriguez's other projects - Crystal Fairy, the supergroup he's formed with Dale Crover and Buzz Osborne of Melvins plus Teri Gender Bender of Le Butcherettes - have released 'Chiseler', another riff-heavy beast that picks up where first single 'Drugs On The Bus' left off.

At The Drive-In weren't the only ones who chose yesterday to properly launch their much anticipated return to action. The brothers Reid were at it too, with 'Amputation' getting its first airing on Steve Lamacq's 6Music show ahead of the release of the new Jesus & Mary Chain album Damage And Joy next year, proving they're still in love with fuzzy logic. Rather like new material from Dinosaur Jr, it sounds instantly, wonderfully familiar - no bad thing at all.