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THE STROKES First Impressions of Earth Rough Trade ****

The first major album of 2006 lands with a clatter on the world's CD decks, but will it top the pile of critics' favourites at the end of the year? The Strokes' last, Room on Fire, was cruelly written off as a poor cousin of their debut, Is This It? There's no danger of this one being compared, favourably or unfavourably, with its two predecessors. Like Han Solo dodging Empire fighters in the Millennium Falcon, The Strokes have veered off on an unexpected course, plunging deeper into the post-punk nebula that originally sparked their jagged blend of downtown punk and Motown junk.

First Impressions of Earth touches on a mad variety of post-punk references - from Iggy's Lust for Life to Television's Marquee Moon to Lou Reed's Street Hassle. The songs often sound like surreal, sci-fi versions of themselves, but narrowly avoid sounding like The Bravery. After the mad whirl of trying to live up to being the new century's biggest buzz band, The Strokes have found time to reflect on the pitfalls and peccadilloes of sudden rock stardom, and created an album which, while appearing to jump confusingly all over the shop, still manages to make sense of all the madness.

Keeping everything rooted is Casablancas's voice, moving from an edgy, whispered croak to a full-throated back-alley roar. The rest of the band seem to stalk more confidently behind him, kicking over trashcans along the way. Standout tracks You Only Live Once, Juicebox, Heart in a Cage, On the Other Side, Vision of Division and Ask Me Anything are crawling with riffs, left-turns, wrong 'ems, right hooks and big ideas - they could have played it safe, but instead went for the full enchilada with all the spices and seasonings. Suck it and see stars.