Clocking in at just under seven minutes, 'Unnatural Selection' evolves from an angelic church organ intro to an adrenalised, testosterone-drenched kick in the balls. Drum sticks flail, fingers gallop up and down the bass fretboard and the singer spits ? before, as if from nowhere, the song metamorphoses into a slow Jim Hendrix groove that disappears as suddenly as it arrives.

Continuing the unrelenting sonic assault, 'MK Ultra' hurls an orchestra and weird computer effects into the indie rock swirl before the boys lower the intensity with the jaunty piano ditty 'I Belong To You' ? the umpteenth surprise and yet wholly unexpected.

But not as unexpected as the cinematic 'Exogenesis' which, during recording, Howard alluded to as a "symphonic monster". Certainly that's a more appropriate title for the close-on 15 minutes of lavish string arrangements (think '2001: A Space Oddyssey'), classical piano recitations, and sweeping vocals that sounds nothing like the work of a three-piece rock band.

The only possible conclusion to the spectacularly elaborate and defiantly unique 'The Resistance' then.

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