These New Puritans - Hidden

1 of 1

Keeps listeners in suspense

'We Want War', the second track on 'Hidden', is every bit as colossal as the title suggests. Seven minutes of horror movie atmospherics, the beats of the hardest rap and the bleakness of the blackest metal, some will spend a whole day wandering around it and still be just as hooked and none the wiser for descriptions.

Nothing else on These New Puritans' second album is as stunning, but it's not for lack of effort, and if you want a record that's never predictable and the sound of a band taking real risks, gorge yourself here.

Instead of falling into the black hole of self-indulgence, the quartet somehow manage to keep listeners in suspense as to just what will happen next - even after repeated listens. And with enough ideas for 100 songs, there should be something to like, although it may not last very long.

They'll lose some listeners and gain others. Where These New Puritans go now is as big a mystery as what they've done here.

Harry Guerin

Tracklisting: Time Xone - We Want War - Three Thousand - Hologram - Attack Music - Fire-Power - Orion - Canticle - Drum Courts-Where Corals Lie - White Chords - 5