Album Review: Algiers - The Underside Of Power

One might have thought, given everything that's happened in the past eighteen months, Algiers' sophomore album might somehow be even angrier than their first.

Not quite as shocking as the trans-Atlantic firebrands' bruising debut but perhaps a shade or two deeper, The Underside Of Power still burns with urgency, referring as it does — in the words of impressively piped singer Franklin Fisher — to how "you don't know what real power is until you're on the wrong side of it".

With the addition of former Bloc Party drummer Matt Tong and producers Adrian Utley of Portishead and Ali Chant, who's worked his magic for PJ Harvey and Perfume Genius, Algiers' sound palette has expanded. A few moody John Carpenter-esque electronic elements have crept in, such as on A Murmur. A Sign, while anti-police-brutality anthem Cleveland interpolates a gospel song in memory of Tamir Rice, a 12-year-old African-American boy who was killed by police in Cleveland. The title track, though, is a monumental highlight, featuring a classic Motown backbeat; it sounds something like The Four Tops if they had severe anger issues.

All up, The Underside Of Power confirms Algiers as one of our time's most relevant bands.