The Invisible Invasion [2 CD]

Rather, the third full-length from this Hoylake sextet sees them steer their tattered galleon into darker waters, penning songs like "She Sings The Mourning" and "A Warning To The Curious" filled to the brim with bad vibes, an unhealthy preoccupation with death and disease, and guitar solos that coil and uncoil like a hat full of maggots. Sterling tunes aplenty, but in particular, frontman James Skelly stands out here, thanks to his evident delight for dark imagery both superstitious - "An open door on the 13th floor/Conspiracy on the corridor," goes "Cripples Crown" - and plain deranged: "Can you dance with the lepers in the madman's house?" he barks, over and over, as "Arabian Sand" barrels to a bug-eyed close. --Louis Pattison