[8.5/10] It’s been a long three long years in the making, but Melbourne based oddball trio Innocent Cabbage are back with their second full-length effort What Are You Doing?And to be honest, it’s been well worth the wait.

From a musical standpoint, Innocent Cabbage (who comprise of vocalist/guitarist Will Dayble, vocalist/bassist Gaz Pickard and vocalist/drummer Joe Forrester) is still somewhat hard to pigeonhole, with a sound that fused together punk rock, metal, jazz, funk, alternative/indie rock and pop, but all laced with a warped and weird sense of humour.

But in terms of musical composition, production and just overall presentation (the packaging accompanying What Are You Doing?is nothing short of stunning!), the band’s latest effort is a huge step up and beyond anything heard from their first two offerings 2005’s self titled album and 2006’s live effort Win You Up The Dick.

The opening track “Buff Roller” is a familiar Innocent Cabbage-like cacophony of noise right from the very start, with the three vocalists providing plenty of variation on the vocal front, while musically the song manages to cover all of the above mentioned genres to some extent.

“Invincible” is an obvious stand out with its funky/quirky Primus vibe and twisted pop/metal sensibilities, while tracks such as “Number One,” “Tea + Syphilis” (one of the four tracks that originally appeared on their live album) and the groovy “Takin Off My Belt” are by far the catchiest numbers on the album, and as close as the album gets to something resembling normal.

Over the remaining eleven tracks, Innocent Cabbage venture further into the strange, the sometimes bewildering and almost always laugh out loud stupid, with “Rock Stars,” the infectious “Happy Pants,” the bombastic “Victims Of A Drunken Slurring” and the demented chaos of “Punch Buggy Red” the pick of the rest.

Unlike a lot of novelty acts, Innocent Cabbage has the musical ability to back up their humour, and humour in the music that actually remains as funny long after several spins. Definitely pick up What Are You Doing? if you get the chance, or do one better and go see them live.

www.myspace.com/innocentcabbage