THE CORAL rode the crest of a wave when their chirpy Scouseadelica first rose from the Mersey, sadly this third long player sees The them treading water.

What began with a burst of infectious promise, twinning the weirdness of Julian Cope with the incessant catchiness of Gerry Marsden's milkman whistling a radio favourite, has somehow been diluted. Sure, In The Morning, Something Inside Of Me and So Long Ago prove The Coral still have the ability to rattle off a wistful classic, this time against a dark, doom-laden background. However, The Invisible Invasion comes with too much filler, not enough killer, as the leaden Cripples Crown and Come Home prove. Not the OK Coral then, more the work of a band in progress, but still a million times better than The Zutons.

Updated: 09:24 Thursday, June 02, 2005