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In the early 90s, Texan band Galactic Cowboys stood out as being different – almost a precursor to grunge, with an added Beatles twist. There hadn’t been an album from the original line-up since 1993’s Space In Your Face, but now they’re back together, and Long Way Back To The Moon is a quite brilliant collection.

The style is unmistakable from opener The Clouds, with elements of King’s X, Alice In Chains and Jellyfish yet determinedly individual.

Sparkling melodies mingle with a dark humour and vocal harmonies. There’s a sense that the listener is gatecrashing a private party, which gives the album a distant flavour, yet such is the welcoming draw of Zombies, Hate Me and the title track that you feel compelled to linger.

Galactic Cowboys never cared for commercial formulae. They have always done what pleases them. In that respect nothing has changed. Thankfully. They’re still making intelligent music with explosive quirkiness.

Malcolm Dome had an illustrious and celebrated career which stretched back to working for Record Mirror magazine in the late 70s and Metal Fury in the early 80s before joining Kerrang! at its launch in 1981. His first book, Encyclopedia Metallica, published in 1981, may have been the inspiration for the name of a certain band formed that same year. Dome is also credited with inventing the term "thrash metal" while writing about the Anthrax song Metal Thrashing Mad in 1984. With the launch of Classic Rock magazine in 1998 he became involved with that title, sister magazine Metal Hammer, and was a contributor to Prog magazine since its inception in 2009. He died in 2021.