Album Review: Bloc Party - Four

Don't expect to recognise the Bloc Party of now from the one of '04. They've been going in different directions for years, and this is more apparent on Four than on any of their previous three releases. You won't find festival anthems here, nor will you find overtly-danceable indie. What you will find is at times noisy, and at other times heartbreakingly painful. This record is the soundtrack of a band unravelling and building themselves back up again, if only briefly, and it makes you work for every point.

So He Begins To Lie kicks things off in an awkward and dark fashion. Built around a chugging low-end riff that twists and spirals, the song is a perfect indication of the record to follow. Nothing on Four is sunny, no part an easy listen. It's a band on the brink setting up in a studio together and letting every idea and inspiration explode out of them. Fleeting moments of familiarity such as Octopus and Real Talk recall the romantic Bloc Party jangle of old. But even these are rawer and bare, the live essence of the recording process captured honestly in lo-fi purity. For the most part, however, the Brits pummel you and it's simply brilliant.

After their somewhat abrupt goodbye following the release of 2008's Intimacy, frontman Kele Okereke has said that this album cleans up the unfinished business that was left lingering. If this is indeed true and stands as the album Bloc Party go out on, then what a way to say goodbye; Four is a master class in muscular, sharp rock that stands tall as their defining body of work.