From Springbok Nude Girls lead singer to New Porn vocalist to solo artist, Arno Carstens has enjoyed a finger in a few pies over his years at the helm of the South African rock scene. Now, he is back as one half of Bhelltower ? a ludicrously successful dip into the relatively untapped market of glitch-electro.

Amidst support slots alongside the likes of Paul Weller, Suzanne Vega, Meatloaf and The Police, as well as entertaining the masses across Europe at V Fest, T in the Park and other sizeable festivals, the ever-evolving Carstens has teamed up with electro producer DJ Urbatro for what the two-man endeavour enthuse "represents a series of emotional influences from depraved misery, loneliness and rejection to energetic, uplifting simplicity."

It is a colossal offering to say the least, with Carstens (and his overly digitalised vocals) breaking away entirely from his rock roots, delving into a host of tracks undoubtedly influenced by stalwarts of the trade, Nine Inch Nails, Prodigy and Aphex Twin.

?Depth?, ?Vampires?, Laser Spider? and ?Look the Other Way? introduce listeners to the overall concept of the album, with massive break beats and a lavish abundance of bombastic sounds produced by Urbatro?s synth the order of the day.

However, tipping the scales at 15 songs in length, the majority of the twosome?s creativity is exhausted in the latter half of the album, doing the preceding seven or eight tracks a severe disservice with an abundance of unimaginative looping and an errant use of familiar samples.

A sleazy, malignly mutated cover of Phil Collins? ?Rain Down? harms the triumph achieved in the duo?s rendition of former all-girl act Clout?s ?Substitute?, which features the vocal talent of the late ?70s outfit?s lead lady, Cindy Alter.

Rapper extraordinaire Spaceman lends his rasping rhymes to ?Monsters?, while Urbatro assumes sole responsibility behind the microphone for ?Sex God?, leaving Carstens to remember his guitar-playing pedigree with a token procession of string work thrown into the mix to remind all and sundry that the Arno of old hasn?t quite sold his soul to a new genre.

While not everyone?s cup of tea, Bhelltower, at least, have shown an open-minded audience that there is more to life than rock, rap and indie.