DIIV at Gorilla, Manchester, Sunday, March 21

BEFORE I get round to reviewing DIIV, there is a more primary concern at hand. How do we pronounce DIIV?

At first reading I believed it to be the politically incorrect insult for someone of lower intellect, but on further investigation it is actually the pursuit of jumping into swimming pools, which Tom Daley is rather good at.

Now we have cleared that up, let's move onto the music itself. DIIV are a New York psychedelic five piece influenced by The Cure, aspects of krautrock and shoegaze, and Nirvana.

They have previously courted controversy, after frontman Zachary Cole Smith and his girlfriend were arrested for possession of heroin, and a former drummer left the band due to alleged drug addiction.

Promoting their second album Is the Is Are, a pedant's nightmare of an album title, the group lead us on a 90 minute showcase of the power of loud guitars.

The set is not without problems though, as the band arrive on stage but do not start playing until repeated pleas by Cole Smith to their crew to fix a projector are answered.

After continuing the same request over and over until giving up, it becomes almost comical, while the sell out Gorilla crowd grows restless.

Technical problems resolved, Cole Smith and the group tear into the self titled track from their current record before fan favourites Dopamine and How Long Have You Known.

Some bands struggle to reproduce the layered sound they craft in the studio in the live arena, but this is not a problem for DIIV.

Their brand of fast paced, reverb drenched riffs sound even bigger in this subterranean venue, partly due to the fact it is so loud.

When earplugs as well as Estrella are on the menu at the bar, you realise you are entering a cacophonic cathedral of noise. And not in a bad way.

I don't think anyone would deny DIIV are something of a one trick pony, they have worked out a formula for their music and they stick to it, but their 19 song set is rapturously received by this mostly teenage audience.

DIIV are very unlikely to be remembered in the same way as genre luminaries such as Ride or My Bloody Valentine, but have made waves in the musical landscape of a certain generation.

Made waves? See what I did there? I know, I'm sorry.