It's one of life's great ironies that those who innovate later seek help from those who come through in their wake. So it goes in music as well, particularly in punk, as evidenced by Epitaph giving a contract to former MC5 frontman Wayne Kramer and, in the case of this album, The Offspring's Nitro label putting out the latest effort by spittle-flecked stalwarts The Damned.
With chief Vampire Dave Vanian having coaxed Captain Sensible back into the fold, 'Grave Disorder' sets itself up as a new dawn for the first punks to make their mark on wax.
Initial impressions suggest that they been learning a few tricks off their successors, with opening tracks 'Democracy?' and 'Song.com' possessing the trademark crunch of The Offspring and their Californian brethen and Vanian sounding uncannily like Dexter Holland's cool old uncle.
Lyrically, 'Song.com' features incongruous subject matter for a band in their 40s what with its talk of "Playstations" but at least they do it with some humour, adding some Beach Boys-style harmony vocals to the lyrics about surfing the 'net (geddit?)
They sound more at home on the likes of the rockabilly 'Would You Be So Hot' and are back in full Gothic schlok-horror mode on 'Amen' and 'Beauty Of The Beast', with the curiously named Monty Oxy Moron adding some creepy keyboards.
While this album is unlikely to return The Damned to the charts, it does show that, 25 years down the line, they've still got the knack of penning some infectious high-octane rockers and can give the young upstarts a fair run for their money. And at this stage in the game that's all anyone can ask of them.
