Album Review: The Cribs - In The Belly Of The Brazen Bull

“Sorry that it's taken years/We were victims of our own ideals,” sing The Cribs on their tongue-in-cheek album-closer Arena Rock Encore With Full Cast. It's been three years since we last heard from English brothers Gary, Ryan and Ross Jarman, and it's little wonder it's taken them so long to re-emerge. In The Belly Of The Brazen Bull was crafted all over the globe and involved three producers. With Gary living in Portland and the others still in the UK, fragments of songs were created on either side of the North Atlantic, while the band also worked in Switzerland and put together an ambitious four-song suite at London's Abbey Road.

There is no Johnny Marr this time around, with the former Smiths man departing after one record and a bunch of tours. However, In The Belly... still lands closest, sonically, to that last outing, with many of the prettier guitar sounds that were attributed to Marr remaining very evident, thanks to Gary. The expansive nature of the LP means that the distinctive Cribs signature – those insanely catchy choruses that have you singing along the first time you hear them – are fewer and further between. Aside from the shouty, Steve Albini-produced Chi-Town, there is nothing as insistent or immediately infectious as Hey Scenesters or Men's Needs for instance. Rather, what we are offered is a slower-growing collection of punky-yet-textured, visceral-yet-considered songs, like Back To The Bolthole, which combine the contrasting songwriting sensibilities of Ryan and Gary.

Make no mistake, the Jarman brothers remain some of the best songwriters around, it's just this time you have to live with the record for a while to fully appreciate it.