Self-produced albums are to be expected in a market populated by the fearsome ‘new talent’ powers of Simon Cowell and his one-hit-wonder machine that seems to have no stopping capability. All too many of them can be lost in a field of truly spectacular releases from singer-songwriter and other established musical partnerships.

One band that might have slipped many nets emanates from London’s East End, home to Pakistani front-man, Azam Khan, who is a remarkably accomplished guitarist and had already been proclaimed by TNT Magazine as ‘The New Dalai Lama of Blues’ in the early-Noughties. Hungry and The Hunted is his current muse, which was established in 2006 and has been kept busy on the UK and European live circuit, headlining Blues festivals and winning prestigious support slots with ‘God’ (Eric Clapton) and the ‘Modfather’ (Paul Weller).

‘Magic Bullets’ is the trio’s latest oeuvre of outstanding high energy rock and roll. As Khan verbalises in the opening track, “This time I’m ready for anything…This time I’ll take on anyone…”, it is a self-assured album of premium grade quality that more than lives up to its author’s you-can’t-ignore-me-now intentions.

Consider from where all of this ire and anxiety has originated and you will arrive at the heartland of traditional blues rock. As a London resident, Khan felt understandably isolated and beset upon by a system focused on the ‘War on Terror’. A daily diet of ‘stop-and-searches’ only incensed him further and the result is a melange of Clash, Motorhead and Springsteen influenced musical retaliation.

Yet, there is so much more to this apparently renegade stance. Listening to the other eleven tracks, that include a rocking ‘Bite The Bullet’, a reflective ‘Stole My Breath’ and a resonant title track ‘Hungry And The Hunted’, in which Khan lets rip with a guitar solo of such individual brilliance that you can comprehend the levels of support and fascination that the band is generating, there is a sound redolent of Thin Lizzy at its explosively vibrant best.

Babar Luck accompanies on bass guitar, while Tom Meadows bashes the skins on an album mixed in Berlin and mastered by Ace from Skunk Anansie. Modern punk overtones can be felt and heard in this frequently bilious reproach on the ‘system’, celebrity culture, the Iraq and Afghani conflicts and big business. It is a worthy sound of today, determined to make an impact and succeeding in fine measure with an overall competent musical edge that is both vital and powerful. It is polished with the occasional spit.