Back in 2007/2008 we were told by certain music publications that Hadouken were a band worth caring about. Fast forward a few years to 2010 and the same publications are now telling us that the Leeds formed Watford based band aren't worth bothering with at all. Hmm, that's quite a U turn isn't it? Could this be due to the fact that they no longer stand behind the nu-rave scene with which they were perhaps unfairly mixed in with? Perhaps. But it seems that sometimes bands that are part of scenes are allowed to get away with murder, just as long as they bolster a movement that keeps young and impressionable music fans buying into it. Their last effort, Music For An Accelerated Culture didn't exactly wipe the bored in terms of reviews, but it was given the benefit of the doubt on the grounds that it was 'tongue in cheek' Well after hearingFor the Masses, it's quite obvious that it really wasn't as the same sentiment remains.

Recorded in Holland, with Dutch electronic producers Noisia, this is a record that's as violent and spiky as its predecessor. If anything it's even more rough around the edges, with its Prodigy moulded beats and bleeps making an appearance on every track. Its attempts to be intimidating unfortunately fall short by some length, most notably in the cases of Mic Check and M.A.D. This is despite singer James Smith hiding his middle class accent with more success than he did last time around.

There are times when the sickly beats/aggressive lyrics formula works though, and that's in the case of Turn The Lights Out. With its lyrical bile of 'This is your last chance boy/get ready for the rough and tumble if you wanna be starting something' spill out over an equally heavy beat, its melodic chorus will probably give it a chance of some radio play. Similarly Bombshock with its vibrating, electrifying presence makes itself hard to ignore as it grates into your consciousness uninvited.

Other than those brief shots of inventiveness, the rest of the album struggles to deliver on its obvious intent. Its attempts to shock and intimidate fail on both counts as its violent lyrics and offensive sounds coming across as cheap gimmicks.For the Masses does however contain two tracks with mainstream capabilities. And it's in the form of Bombshock and Turn The Lights Out that suggest Hadouken may have hope for the future.

1. "Rebirth" 4:30
2. "Turn the Lights Out" 3:53
3. "M.A.D" 3:26
4. "Evil" 3:56
5. "House is Falling" 4:10
6. "Mic Check" 3:26
7. "Ugly" 4:05
8. "Bombshock" 3:54
9. "Play the Night" 4:13
10. "Lost" 4:16

Imagine a cross between the Prodigy and 2 Unlimited (yes, it is possible), and Hadouken! are the band that achieved that unlikely pairing on their debut full-length album, Music for an Accelerated Culture. Track three was titled "Game Over" and computer gaming featured high on Hadouken!'s list of influences, even down to their name, which reportedly came from a specific fighting attack move in the Street Fighter game. Using computer-generated bleeps and synthesized sounds to create a kind of wall of sound behind James Smith's vocals, tracks such as "That Boy That Girl" began to surface on the Internet as early as February 2007, and some of the tracks had also appeared on the EP Not Here to Please You, which was issued only as a downloadable set of tracks or on the relatively new format of a USB memory stick. The band waited until May 2008 to release its first proper album, which featured a programmed drumbeat and bassline throughout, making most of lyrical content almost irrelevant. One doubts Hadouken! knew too much about the Dutch techno band from the early '90s named 2 Unlimited, but the synth riffs bear a remarkable similarity. Near the end of the album was the track "Liquid Lives," a song that became a reasonably sized hit (well, number 36 for one week) in the early summer of 2007. Perhaps the album was a classic example of a band waiting too long to release it officially, and fans' excitement had already faded.

1. "Get Smashed Gate Crash" - 3:21
2. "That Boy That Girl" - 3:32
3. "Game Over" - 3:35
4. "Declaration of War" - 3:11
5. "Mr Misfortune" - 3:17
6. "Crank It Up" - 3:00
7. "What She Did" - 3:18
8. "Driving Nowhere" - 3:48
9. "Liquid Lives" 2:51
10. "Spend Your Life" - 3:13
11. "Wait for You" - 4:00