Album Review: Snow Patrol - Wildness

Seven years on from the release of their disappointing sixth album, Fallen Empires, Northern Irish pop rockers Snow Patrol return with the enjoyable ten-track effort, Wildness.

Revisiting the lush alternative pop soundscapes of their earlier work, the quintet have rediscovered the form that made them one of the world's biggest bands during the early 2000s British scene.

Album opener Life On Earth is a sweeping alternative rock number encompassing everything that's made Snow Patrol a success. Empress mirrors Birmingham act Editors with its steady drum beat and electronic flourishes. What If This Is All The Love You Ever Get? features crooning vocals over a subtle piano line, simply put, it's the band's best ballad since the 2006 Martha Wainwright collaboration Set The Fire To The Third Bar.

In interviews leading up to the album's release, vocalist and chief songwriter Gary Lightbody discussed his battles with writer's block, depression and alcoholism and it's plain to hear in his lyrics on songs such as the sobering A Youth Written In Fire and soaring Heal Me. Returning from the darkness with an introspective and cohesive collection of songs, it's a welcome return to from Lightbody and his Snow Patrol bandmates.