Savages : "Adore Life"

Their new album opens with "the Answer"one of the lead singles that been on the web for a minute  and it rocks harder than when these gals were around last time. The guitar tone is thicker almost to the sludge point of fuzz , but rumbles with more of a "Manic Depression" meets punk drone. The chant of "if you don't love me, don't love anybody" is the main melody that works for me on this one, some of the others are not as focused as what they brought to the party on "Silence Yourself" . "Evil" brings things back to a smoother form of post-punk with a dance inducing throb. The guitar is smooth and melodious with all of the other factors playing to the strengths of their sound, climaxing at the end. This album enjoys the benefits of better production than their debut. The bass is thicker and Jenny Beth's vocals are up front and unencumbered by the mix. "Sad Person" hits a sweet spot between groove and punchy rock. The guitar still flirts with surreal layers leaving the hammer of the bass to carry the weight, but at other times the guitar takes on a much more rock feel than they had before, making this album harder than their first.
 

There is a more introspective , but not quite ballad like tenderness to the title track. The guitar carries a pulse not unlike Depeche Modes more rock moments on the verses and  rising into a more refined punk on the choruses. There is a more middle of the road swagger to "Slowing Down the World". Her raw vocals lead into "I Need Something New". The guitar throws strips of feedback over the bass line that revs the engine before this songs gets to rip onto the asphalt. They use the tension of restraint to tease that that they are going to give into to the explosion as her narrative continues.When they do kick in its coated with more noise around the rough edges to build the sonics. The song writing is more refined with experimentation handled with in the confines of a the three minute pop song. This is best spotlighted on "When in Love" that find feedback sculpted around melodies in the same four bars.The distorted bass on " Surrender " is juxtaposed against Jenny Beth's more pleading delivery and a playful guitar accent, before the sparse chorus reins the song in briefly.
 

There is a burst of punk injected more heavily into the dna of their post-punk sound on "T.I.W.Y.G" , which stands for this is what you get. According to Jenny Beth, this is what you get when you mess with love. There is a cool melodic break down at the two minute mark that I was not expecting. There is a somber drifting ambiance to "Mechanics" which they close out the album with. They hover on this simmering noise with Jenny Beth's melody breezing over the surface, though is is more of an outro rather than converging into an actual song. I gave their debut a 9, so I'll give this one a 9.5 if I ignored the last thing I could round it up to a 10 as I don't see it making it over to the iPod. I am sure this album will grow on me.