What a difference a few months makes. Not so long ago Sound Advice cast its ear over Watford band Telstar’s debut EP – Who Are Telstar? and were much impressed. Now, after a busy term on the live circuit and in the studio, the four-piece return with the answer, their second EP – We Are Telstar .

I wouldn’t want to guess what kind of cactus juice these guys have been supping while they were away, but it’s as if Jimi Hendrix rode into their dreams on a polka dotted unicorn, vomited psychedelic riffs into their brains and departed on a flaming Stratocaster into space. Or something.

The opener Forbidden Fruit is spiky and distorted, like an out-of-focus hedgehog, while Fusion channels the likes of The Seahorses and Supergrass via some dark musical mystic – perhaps a wizard with a CB radio.

Anti-Hero remains closer to the band’s trademark sound – rumbling bass line, layered with crunchy guitars and a bluesy vocal – but arrives with more snarl and spit than ever before. It’s a dark, distressing number, the type that would follow you home off the bus and put a brick through your window. A brick with rude words written all over it.

And just when you think it’s disappeared into the darkness it appears again, eyeballs bulging, bashing at the back door chanting: “Strolling like Robert de Niro, I am your anti-hero”, armed with a baseball bat of fuzz and feedback. It’s mad, bad, invigorating stuff – imagine falling face-first from height onto a bed of nails then diving into a paddling pool of cheap aftershave. Don’t forget to bring a towel!

Same Old You, Different Me is lighter stuff, like waking up still drunk and having another double scotch on your cornflakes. There’s plenty of killer riffage in this missive to a no-longer-wanted mistress – riffs that stick with you all day.

To finish off, Shape Shifter isn’t the sort of song to be found in the dingy alleyway the others might be found bothering animals in. The frenetic bass-line lends itself to The Jam or Clash comparisons and is a sharp slice of pop-punk that leaves you dazed and confused – with some reggae drum snaps that give the record a whole new twist.

What can I say – we all know writing about music is like dancing about architecture so get online, get to a gig and give this cracking collection of distorted disturbings a listen.

To find out where Telstar are playing next visit www.telstarband.co.uk and to listen to the new tracks: soundcloud.com/bandtelstar