Audioxide

IDLES’ most considered, sonically thoughtful, and complex release to date, taking the band down a new path while preserving their strengths.

A blend of teenage angst and a primordial, animalistic sense of something lurking beneath a thin surface, a beastly shape clawing at the other side.

Our journey had its ups and downs but we feel confident of where we ended up. Which is just as well, because we’re never putting ourselves through this again.

There is a huge amount of musical and lyrical ingenuity to enjoy here, with strong messages, jovial piss takes, and Joe Talbot as the megaphoned town crier.

The album's all a bit clean cut, a perfectly pleasant smorgasbord of gothy synth pop which goes in one ear and out the other.

With Harvey it feels like you’ve stumbled across the ad hoc performance of a travelling mystic. It’s black magic with a smile.

Pretty much everything about Unknown Pleasures was, and continues to be, a total triumph in cathartic misery. It’s a true classic.

There’s a lot to be said for the album’s quirks, but when all is said and done, This Nation’s Saving Grace is in fact a great album in its own right.

It’s an intensely focused musical space, guided by a vocal delivery that seems simultaneously lethargic and passionate. Post-punk is rarely more unsettling.

The catchy riffs and toe-tapping beats are there, but that's precisely the problem - stubborn in nature, with very little desire to change, they are just there.