A Place to Bury Strangers – Worship

It's never pretty when good bands go off the boil but the drop off that A Place to Bury Strangers seem to have experienced since 2009's Exploding Head is particularly shocking. The band sound tired and uninspired for the duration, a feeling corroborated by Oliver Ackermann's lyrics and vocal delivery, both of which are even more tormented than usual ('either way I choose/the choice is wrong/so I choose wrong/always wrong').

Hooks are in short supply too, but You're the One rides a lissom bassline halfway to sensuality before Ackermann's arsenal of stompboxes blows the asshole out of its chorus, leaving only a weightless metallic mist in its place. Given their reputation for overwhelming sonics, the band's decision to self-produce this album seems to have backfired. Worship can claim the dubious distinction of being not only one of the loudest albums of the year so far, but one of the most boring.