Though NFD are unmistakably a goth band, on "Dead Pool Rising" the band have shown themselves to be distinctively brighter than many of their rivals. They may not have been basking in the sunshine and splashing about in poorly inflated rubber swimming pools, but at the very least they opened the curtains a couple of times whilst writing and recording their second album.

Perhaps the biggest indicator of this is the appropriately titled "Light My Way," which not only opens the album in spectacular style, but is the first of a number of songs, including the similarly addictive "Caged" and "Descent" that demand to be replayed time and time again.

There is of course plenty of room for the darker side of the band too -- "Rise" and "One Moment Between Us" proving that the band is still very much in touch with its darker roots. And rest assured, NFD haven't suddenly become a pop band. Peter White's vocals are still suitably gruff and the band still has the foreboding resonance you'd expect of a decent goth outfit -- in fact soundwise little has changed since their debut, "No Love Lost."

Of course seeing as the Fields of the Nephilim have only recently released an album of their own (the impressive "Mourning Sun"), it's only reasonable that many will want to know which one to purchase -- but it's really not a simple case of one being better than the other. "Mourning Sun" is the more metallic and haunting, "Dead Pool Rising" is the rockier and catchier alternative -- both of them are excellent releases. Sensible advice would surely be to buy both.