BILLED as the "UK's next great rock and roll band", The Shining had a lot to live up to with this debut.

True Skies has already received an undeserved savaging from much of the national music press for being just another flash in the indie pan. Certainly it won't set the scene on fire, but is a promising rock record which boasts a handful of great songs. Not least, Crest Of An Ocean, which builds from a simple REM-like mandolin strum into an all-out anthem. Show You The Way is Second Coming-era Stone Roses without the guitar wizardry of John Squire, but you can't have everything. What You See shows the band's tender, acoustic side, while single Young Again was the song that first gave the band the whiff of greatness. With former Verve members Simon Jones and Simon Tong at the heart of the rhythm section, The Shining could and should burn brighter.

Updated: 10:08 Thursday, January 23, 2003