Moon: The Orbitor (Golden Robot)

Every now and again we in New Zealand are reminded just how Australians make hard rock . . . and not just of the Rose Tattoo kind.

This impressive eight-song debut has its foot on the accelerator from the start line and Moon run like a finely tuned, well-oiled machine for the full 29 minutes.

You'd guess this might be a product of some hefty touring for years through tough Aussie pubs but that seems unlikely, the band's leader and drummer Jagger is stil only 13.

There is a heroism at work here too, where a howling wind drives the hard-edged riffery and the instrumental Heart Song nods briefly to prog experimentation yet never loses sight of the goal . . . which is an explosion somewhere in deep space.

The intense throb of Sidewinder channels equal parts of Sabbath and Foo Fighters (incidentally singer/guitarisr Steve Balbi was bassist in Noiseworks, among other credits), but material like the more measured and trippy Ten Years suggest an interest in deep but sensurround prog.

Chasing a Lie is at heart a pop-rock song, but it is pumped up on intensity and elelctricity and adrenalin (and throws in "wham-bam thank-you-mam" just to nod to glam.

Very few New Zealand bands make rock music with this much tautness, ambition and sonic oomph. Yet it never comes off as simply bellicose, but something more disciplined and focused.

The title track at the end again points in a more measured direction (until a defibrulator of a searing guitar kick starts its pumping heart).

And . . . 13?

If you like your rock with a sense of adventure alongside the volume and breadth, this is well worth checking out.