Goths, eh? Did you know that in Dumfries & Galloway, an ancient ordinance permits the public burning of Goths, as long as you bring your own kindling, and make sure the fire is upstream from any public washing lines. S'true.

Which roundabout way brings me to Acedia, album number three from electro-gothers History of Guns. They're a right miserable shower, so that will doubtless go down very well with the black clad masses who spend their time vacillating between misery and anger. Imagine Fields Of The Nephilim offspring, NFD, with a sense of their own ludicrousness.

The brilliantly named Del Alien and the less brilliantly named Max Rael are the mainstays of the band, bringing in supporting musicians as and when they need them, along with the guest return of original co-founder and almost as brilliantly named as Del Alien, Stagger Lee. The studio is where they are mainly based, although they have stepped out at the Goth Woodstock aka the Whitby Gothic Weekend, and it's the many, many hours they've spent in the studio that makes this such an enjoyable release.

If anything, this is their rockiest album ever, with the guitars pushed right up in the mix, ahead of their more established electronic bleeps and swooshes, with lots of bass driven boombastic moments that will get their leather clad minions shaking their tush down the Goth discotheque. Check out "What Have They Done To Us" for a prime example of what I'm talking about. Probably the best track on the album is the Glitter Band stomp of "'No Eternal Reward", a feisty tune well at odds with its lyrical content, and all the better for it.

The lyrics are by far the bleakest thing about this album, as befits one called Acedia, which means a total absence of spiritual light. However, the music often strays into the realms of the life affirming when it mashes up goth, industrial, and a wee bit of glam rock. I'm not sure that was the intention, but here's hoping it was.

There's still plenty here for the more traditional Goths to enjoy, and if anything History Of Guns are looking backwards to the days of Bauhaus and Alien Sex Fiend rather than to the 21st century electro nonsense that a lot of the Gothsters out there seem to be getting into. It's a mighty fine album and if they keep on turning out tunes as good as "Born, Brutalised, Bought Then Buried", then I'll be cheering in their corner for a long time to come.