Craig Finn has a way with words like few others. It’s not about economy or verbosity – it’s just about what he says. From the moment he says “She said always remember/Never to trust me” on opener “Hornets! Hornets!” as an introduction to the central character of Charlemagne on Separation Sunday, it’s all systems GO!

Of course, if it was just the lyrics on Separation Sunday that made it such a fascinating and absorbing listen then the Hold Steady would only be doing half the job. Thankfully, that’s far from the case; instead the music is nothing short of radical in that it’s not in keeping with any stylistic movement. Instead, the backing to Finn’s thematic tale of addiction, loss and ultimate redemption is classic rock.

The warm keyboard of Franz Nicolay makes him the essential ingredient and difference between Separation Sunday and its predecessor Almost Killed Me. His flourishes on the likes of “Cattle and the Creeping Things” and “Stevie Nix” are as thrilling as Jim Steinman’s on Bat Out of Hell. Yep, with songs like “Your Little Hoodrat Friend” and “Banging Camp” (with that line “I dig those awkward silences/Because I grew up in denial and went to school in Massachusetts”) the Hold Steady are as anthemic as Meat Loaf was at his best. Elsewhere the guitar work, with a killer solo on “Charlemagne in Sweatpants”, is just awesome.

Oh, yeah, ‘cos it’s all about the anthems on Separation Sunday. But, again, it comes back to the combination of Finn and the musical backing – without the one complementing the other, perhaps the Hold Steady would be just another very good band, instead of the great one that they clearly are. It’s not for no reason that they’ve been touted as ‘mclusky meets the E Street Band’, with vicious barbed lyrics coupled with classic Americana rock.

So, with Separation Sunday having already garnered acclaim aplenty in 2005 (when it was released in the band’s native United States), it would now seem that it will just as likely earn similar kudos in 2006 outside of that particular country. The music converts simply because the album really is just that good. The theme of Catholic guilt and drug addiction / recovery is and will always be universal. And, as the Hold Steady prove on Separation Sunday, great rock ‘n roll will never die.