Kashmir
No Balance Palace
Columbia/Sony BMG

Without a doubt, Kashmir are one of the most underrated bands in the world. The basic reason for that is simply that no-one's ever heard of them. Yet, 2003's 'Zitilites' album won a stack of Grammies in their native Denmark and received rave reviews throughout the rest of Europe, Japan and Australia. Huge rock sound scapes and delicate vocals begged comparison to Radiohead, but it seems the word simply didn't go too far from the critics to the masses.

'No Balance Palace' sees Kashmir's ball still rolling strongly, the songs masterfully constructed: exciting and dynamic. David Bowie even features on The Cynic, a rollicking, scruff of the neck, rock track. A Bowie endorsement speaks for itself.

Improving their chances of more widespread success, 'No Balance Palace' is less sound scape and more edgy rock than its predecessor. Kalifornia opens the album in moody, 'ascending greatness' fashion. Kashmir walk a line of beautiful balance between moody bass lines and eclectic guitars, which is chillingly engaging until sixth track The Curse Of Being A Girl lets loose with brilliant melody to form a great chorus pop-song. She's Made Of Chalk treads another controlled and enchanting quieter path until it also takes it to the next level with some massive guitar riffs. Snowman is the nasty, 'lurking-behind-corners' track of the album, a wave of distortion riding across the guitars whilst singer Kasper Eistrup sings at a hypnotic mid-paced tempo. Black Building is essentially the spoken word outro to Snowman, the experimental 'arty' stamp that Kashmir are good enough to do. Capping off the album is the precious bonus track Supergirl and a shorter, low-fi version of She's Made Of Chalk.

At the time of me writing this Kashmir were about to support Something For Kate, however, at the time of you reading this, that show has just passed by. Just like Death Cab For Cutie did three years ago, Kashmir's SFK support slot sees the band in relative musical obscurity. On the strength of both 'Zitilites' and 'No Balance Palace', I can only hope that the next time we see Kashmir will be with even bigger fanfare than that which Death Cab For Cutie receives these days.

Steven Williams