I must admit that I've always associated The Donnas with the mental image of one of the pastiched bands that visit Springfield on The Simpsons, clad in leather and with super spiky 80s hair + Flying V's abounding. Alas, The Donnas don’t make it easy to banish away such images from my head, especially when their album bears the tongue-cheeking title ‘Bitchin’, and has songs called ‘Girl Talk’ and ‘When the Show is Over’. It appears, though, that The Donnas won’t mind such comparisons one bit. They unashamedly want to believe that stadium hair-rock is still roaring and alive, and pretend that nu-metal, Coldplay, or the whole nineties have ever happened. Perhaps when they’re recording they close their eyes and imagine they’re supporting Bon Jovi in 1986.

Wearing an objective hat for a minute, ‘Bitchin’ is good for what it is and good at what it does, which is to burst forth bold, blatantly loud, distorted pop-metal to perfectly soundtrack American under-age drinking or Uni Sororities. Avid Donnas fans will notice that while 'Gold Medal', their third and final effort on Atlantic, pointed to a possible development in their sound, here they have back-tracked further into their pastiche niche. The band are unashamedly loutish, sexy and cheeky (the latter especially on the album cover...), and they play up this image to bursting point. Whilst it certainly ain’t Simone de Beauvoir, The Donnas’ will to be ‘Here for the Party’, to “get wrecked”, “start a fight”, and “be turned on” could be seen as nicely liberating and Feminist. Unfortunately, while this may have caused a stir if they'd done so a quarter of a century ago, it seems a bit tired - even forced - now.

Even if the album didn’t make me want to clap both hands in the air like I just don’t care, I did tap my feet and marvel at what a pleasant image it must be to see lead guitarist Allison Robertson banging out one ultra-loud, no-holds-barred guitar solo after the next. They probably are damn good fun to see live as well; it's just a shame for them that this won't be at Madison Square Garden in 1987, but Manchester Academy 3 in 2007.