Over in the UK for some festival appearances, Staind took the opportunity to lob in an extra show in the comparatively intimate surroundings of the Brixton Academy. Curiously, the place felt a few hundred punters short of a full house, even though teams of security saw fit to police the event as intensively as if they were taking Donald Rumsfeld for a stroll in Baghdad. Consequently, the atmosphere in the house felt flat, and the band never quite managed to turn it around, despite vocalist Aaron Lewis's trips down into the photo pit to get up close with the hardcore fans.

Although they are lumped in with the Korn/Limp Bizkit brigade and are proteges of Fred Durst, Staind don't overdo the bludgeoning wall-of-sound excess, despite the giant bank of Marshall speakers that stands behind guitarist Mike Mushok. As its title suggests, their latest album, 14 Shades of Grey, features contrasting musical moods, from flat-out racket to broody passages with acoustic guitars and minor keys. Sometimes it is almost subtle. Unfortunately, despite their sophisticated sound system and banks of mixing equipment, the sound at the Academy remained indistinct. The only time you could hear Lewis clearly was when he made the occasional brief announcement between songs.

You were left with a fuzzy general impression of songs that could sound a lot more detailed and involving in the controlled environment of your living room. Falling Down felt dense and physical, but lacked dynamic shape. Spleen was like being trapped on a mechanical road-digger without an off switch, and Suffocate couldn't have been more aptly titled.

But there was a glimpse of what Staind are capable of in Layne, written after the death of Alice in Chains vocalist Layne Staley. The piece ingeniously imitates the tortuous slow motion and eerie harmonies that became Alice in Chains trademarks, and the forbidding growl in Lewis's voice suddenly seemed remarkably Staley-like - but there is enough Staind in the mixture to prevent the song from sounding like a mere rip-off. Also well received were songs such as Epiphany and Outside, for which they grabbed acoustic guitars and went a bit ballady (the applause may have been simply because it was easier to hear them). People even started waving lighters in the air, so beneath that doomy exterior, maybe Staind are just old-fashioned stadium rock.