WHILE time has marched on since New Order's heyday back in the 1980s, it seems the band's distinctive sound has not.

This has the unfortunate effect of leaving the listener with a feeling of having heard it all before and being stuck in some kind of bad taste timewarp.

And it does smack of a certain complacency, assuming fans of a certain age will run off and buy the album on the back of the old hits.

However there is some good material and with repeated listenings, Jetstream is a nice catchy summer tune, while Guilt is a Useless Emotion and Turn also stick their heads above the parapet as being slightly different.

But others such as Dracula's Castle and the title track do tend to blend into a bland sameness which makes it hard to distinguish between songs.

The synthesisers and frontman Bernard Sumner's vocals are instantly recognisable and you will probably end up humming Blue Monday after listening to the album.

And just a footnote about the cover, which sends an unfortunate subliminal message from the shelves not to buy it...

SC