Review: Titus Andronicus ****

New Jersey's trendiest new band Titus Andronicus might be named after a Shakespeare tragedy, but their performance at Sheffield's Harley was anything but tragic – more a joyous, exhilarating thrill. Channeling the sounds and ideas of post-industrial America, particularly the New Jersey of Bruce Springsteen and The Hold Steady, Titus Andronicus mine a rich seam of rock tropes: youth and its exuberances, ageing and the nihilism of those who have grown up and seen too much.

But if growing up was the primary subject of their debut album, The Airing of Grievances, their latest offering, The Monitor, adds the weight of history to their subject matter, with the theme of the album centering on the American Civil War. This might sound contrived, but the balance of melodrama and wit has a freshness that sets it apart from many of the more popular rock acts hogging the airwaves. Kings of Leon, take note.

In a live show, however, some of the lyrics get lost in the mix. The sound is so raw and overdriven that it often swamps frontman Patrick Stickles's vocals.

As in the best of punk and hard rock, this has its value, and the audience frequently calls out for the band to "turn it up a notch" – to which they politely oblige. With such a small, hemmed-in stage, The Harley was never the ideal match for the epic nature of such an act and strangles some of the excesses on offer.

This is the birth of a group who could easily command stadiums, and the live show is a feat of some magic, only just lacking the range of orchestration of the albums.

When they end all too soon, the crowd may well have

been left reflecting that they were lucky to see this act on their journey to wider recognition.

The Harley, Sheffield.