STEP back to summer 2002. After watching World Cup football in town, walking towards the Lansdowne, the warm evening breeze carries the unmistakable stomp of Zep’s Kashmir, the BBC’s World Cup theme tune.

But this is leaner, more aggressive. The sound leads us to the Gander (much missed today).

Two songs later and it’s clear this band are bigger than the pub circuit. Great musicianship, and really, really tight. They breathe a new energy into versions of Burn, Immigrant Song and Perfect Strangers. Their sound has more vitality, more attack.

Mark and Steve Owers, who featured on Lionsheart’s acclaimed debut album 10 years or so earlier, had resurfaced backed by a punchy rhythm section in Ian Corlett and John Manners.

If you’re lucky you’ll have caught them playing around Dorset or Hampshire. Each time I’ve seen them they’ve left me, and a growing number of friends, slack-jawed. And their own material, gradually added to the set, stands shoulder to shoulder with the Purple, Zeppelin and Van Halen classics they rip into.

Back to today. If you haven’t caught a gig, your luck has just changed. For within the New Forest something has stirred and it’s stomping your way. Their debut CD, The Psychics, has been released. And it’s a monster.

If you like your rock on the hard-edged classic side your collection isn’t complete without this disc.

Already selling well in Japan, this is no little-local-band-debut offering. It’s highly accomplished, but not over-polished. The product of four guys playing with a swagger and a confidence born of knowing what they’re doing.

The opening track Portent – “an omen, a sign of something to come” – is a future classic, and lives up to its billing, starting the show as it does, indeed, go on. There isn’t a duff track here, up to and including the final instrumental, Dream Man, that showcases the versatility of guitarist Mark, on whom I’ll say no more than this – you be the judge.

They make no attempt to hide influences – Whitesnake-style chopping guitar riffs, Zep-like rhythms, Bonhamesque skin beating, and at times Steve’s vocals remind you of a bluesy Coverdale or Plant – but it’s always delivered with The Psychics’ own full-fat flavour and energy.

The album, as the band, is no one-trick pony. More a thoroughbred that takes you through different pitches, paces, moods, light and shade.

Start to finish it’s an advanced lesson in rock-it science. Grab a seat and join the class. Outstanding.

Visit thepsyhicsband.com for info and the Portent video