The Dauntless Elite fire out "Saliva" as its opening salvo on this, the long/eagerly awaited, second album. More Bloody Bad News is full of everything one might have become accustomed to from the, admittedly, less than prolific but well loved, quartet from the Yorkshire punk stronghold of Leeds, West Yorkshire, England. The Dauntless Elite serves up a tasty feast consisting of a dozen muscular punk rock anthems packing a punch both musically and lyrically as they go.

Having been around for eight years now it seems that despite the frequency with which the bands' name actually crops up, it is surprising that this is only their second full-length release. However, the one thing that is almost certainly guaranteed is a quality product--whether that would suffer if releases were more frequent, who knows (probably not, I hasten to add).

The 12 tracks featured here carry a subtle variety of structures which ensures that the album retains freshness from start to finish as it flows without any obvious hitches. With a general approach that is mid tempo punk rock with a huge melodic base (You won't find any melody fascism here!) the band are quite clearly able to step on the gas if so desired, as is exhibited on the frantic "I Don't Wanna Be A Transhuman," but alternately are able to ease off too, as happens in a number of tracks including what almost seems to be a love song in "Silent Running."

The dual vocals of Joe Alerdice and Lee Wall provide plenty of opportunities for armchair listeners to stretch their own vocal chords as the Dauntless Elite know how to both pen and deliver some catchy tunes. It's not too much of a step to imagine yourself surrounded by like-minded souls in front of a stage whilst the band thrust their songs into your ears--an opportunity I hope to get in the future as I've only managed to catch the band once previously.

If you need a standout track to initially focus on I'd offer up "Danson In The Dark (Don't Ask Me)" with its caustic lyrics and eminently danceable quality (at odds with the subject matter it would seem). However, it would be foolish to overlook any of the tracks on this album as the more I play it the more songs seem to grow and implant themselves further into my head.

People often refer to Leatherface as one of the main influential bands in the U.K. but I'd imagine that the Dauntless Elite too has given rise to a number of new bands with their impassioned delivery of punk rock providing that much needed spark for some people.

For a band that is undeniably English in sound it was interesting to hear on the final track, "Sod This For A Game Of Soldiers," how the word "sorrow" was sung to (deliberately?) sound like that in the Bad Religion song of the same name. This really is the only nod to our American cousins that one finds here and that too is refreshing as many of us have a tendency to forget that there are some great bands in our own country and that we don't always have to be looking westwards.

For vinyl fanatics this is also available from Yo-Yo Records, and that would mean a 12-inch sleeve featuring, what I consider to be, some excellent eye-catching artwork. All in all this is a seriously cracking release indeed.