Sleigh Bells @ Gorilla, Manchester, 21 Feb

Anybody who caught one of Sleigh Bells’ early Manchester shows might have been forgiven for wondering if the duo would still be around in 2017. Even those who liked their debut record, Treats, would at least concede to the failings of its translation to the stage. Alexis Krauss and Derek Miller had no backing band, so it was the two of them – Krauss on vocals, Miller on guitar – and a backing track.

On the odd track like Rill Rill, which saw Miller take a back seat entirely, we were essentially witnessing karaoke. Add to that the fact that the sets were blink-and-you’ll-miss-it short and suggestions that Sleigh Bells were ever going to prove much of a live draw would have seemed pretty fanciful on the basis of gigs like that 2010 appearance at Fallowfield's long-gone The Corner, or The Deaf Institute in early 2011.

Thankfully, that situation changed pretty quickly, and by the time they were out in support of 2014’s third LP, Bitter Rivals, they brought live drums and an extra guitarist with them and felt like a much meatier proposition. Still, though, there was a lack of progression on record and when the Brooklyn outfit prefaced their fourth album with the misguided single Champions of Unrestricted Beauty in 2015, on which they were unrecognisable, you wondered whether the band’s continued existence was in doubt.

By the time Jessica Rabbit was released late last year, that single had vanished and finally, Sleigh Bells had caught up in the studio to where they were on the road; there were genuine steps forward, with a darker tone and greater reliance on synth eased into the mix by Krauss’ evolving vocal sensibilities; her tones now powerful where once they were honeyed to the point of being saccharine.

As usual, tonight’s show at Gorilla involves retina-scorching lighting and a liberal attitude to the volume dial that renders earplugs obligatory, but the new cuts in the set lend those shock-and-awe tactics some real weight. The pulverising beat on I Can Only Stare is underpinned by a striking vocal turn from Krauss, and beneath Miller’s signature riffs, It’s Just Us Now is actually a melodic tour-de-force.

On stage, though, it remains Krauss who does most of the heavy lifting, an irrepressibly energetic presence from start to finish. She brings a vigour to liberal helping of Treats tracks – Infinity Guitars, Tell ‘Em and Crown on the Ground among them – that belies how well-worn they are, and is consistently, exhaustively engaged with the audience, leaping in amongst them during the closing chaos of A/B Machines.

Sleigh Bells have always dealt in extremes and it was peculiar to have watched them swing so wildly from a half-baked live show, early in their career, to one that went heavy on the style but perhaps lacked a bit of substance later on – the towering Marshall stacks of the Reign of Terror era spring to mind. Finally, it feels like they’ve struck a happy balance. Happy and very, very noisy.