The teenage me, itching to parade a questionable new-found knowledge of both alcohol consumption and the opposite sex when, in reality, all he wanted to do was play with Star Wars action figures, had a little Helix in his ever-expanding record collection so when this, the fifteenth studio album by the "biggest heavy metal band in Canadian history", landed in my lap like a clumsy stripper, I was more than happy to accept a little classic rock into my denim 'n' leather day.

With the recruitment of Crash Kelly mainman Sean Kelly to the band's rawkin' ranks, vocalist Brian Vollmer pledged to get 'Vagabond Bones' completed before Kelly had to disappear when he got the job as guitarist for Nelly Furtado, an artist whose credibility - if she ever had any - took an extreme nosedive after she appeared in the video for moron anthem 'Rockstar' from by-the-numbers borerock inbreds Nickelback.

With barely a combed-over hair's breadth to spare before Kelly boarded the plane to Meal Ticket Island, 'Vagabond Bones' was completed and his influence is all over this album like the freakish hair of a dog-boy at your average travelling circus. The last Crash Kelly album, 2008's career-defining 'One More Heart Attack', was a great slab of classic rock-infused melodic rock and the ghost of that record haunts the halls of this new Helix release. Sharpened to contemporary standards, with the threat of completist contempt hanging over the honed hard rockin' like the corpse of an infidel, there are songs on this album that you wouldn't have pinned on a new Helix album in a hundred years. Good on them for taking off the blinkers for it is at the risk of ostracizing the hardcore Helix die-hards of old.

Isn't that always the double whammy for any band trying to release new material in the twilight years of their careers? Release an album that tries to be contemporary and the old fans complain that it sounds nothing like the band that they grew up loving; release an old school sounding record and the accusations of sounding dated, amid wishes for all rock dinosaurs to be wiped out by a fashion meteorite, sting the ears like cheap headphones. Ageing rockers just can't win, eh? Helix attempt to stay in the race with a cute combination of the two.

The meat and two veg favoured by the rock traditionalist is provided by album opener 'The Animal Inside (won't be denied)', a rock standard that treads the stale water of a decade or two ago. 'Go Hard Or Go Home' and the title track offer little variation and may well have the average listener falling out of heavy metal love and thinking they have just bought their most expensive coaster. Three songs in and we're in sink or swim territory already, then 'Monday Morning Meltdown' saunters out of the speakers and suddenly David Hasselhoff is swimming towards you in his red Speedos to save the day. A cheeky little number that wakes you up like you're mainlining caffeine, this song is a defibrillator to the chest of this album. More of the same please.

'Hung Over But Still Hangin' In' might be laced with some questionable lyrics but the mouth of the song is spitting out hairs from Lenny Kravitz's afro - a familiar yet welcome guitar lick complimented by some sweet backing vocals maketh another cool song. Helix are back and the kids are all shakin' again. 'Best Mistake I Never Made' picks at the scab of countrified ballad but, again, bleeds a little quality into your ear canal. An ear canal, incidentally, that no longer wants to peel the skin from your face in return for punishing it with bad metal. 'Make 'Em Dance' continues the climb to credibility with yet more higher quality material and a hook so tasty it'll make the contents of your refrigerator as appetizing as dog piss and corpse cock. Album closer 'Jack It Up' is an above average farewell to a record that threatened to bore yet almost turned the snore into adore.

Over the years Helix may have had more members than Annabel Chong yet, arguably, the most important one in recent times has been Sean Kelly. Recruited as a bass player and lasting only several months before Nelly The Turd came a calling, this curled connoisseur of cock rock has given Helix the gift of life. His departure has at least provided hardcore Helix historians with the chance to see the classic line up from the 1980's reunited. And while those old fans will have their Helix boners jerked by the smearing of old school material on 'Vagabond Bones', it will be the listening neutral who will possibly be the most impressed; surprised, for sure. Definitely one for the curious to check out.

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