What I'm Listening to - Idles' Crawler

I was really worried the new Idles album, Crawler, would mark the end of any residual affection I had for the popular English punk band. Their debut, Brutalism, is a marvellous, grim affair, both menacing and restrained. It is the sound a meltdown makes. But their power seemed to get diluted over their next two albums. The monotonous cheerleading of Ultra Mono, their last, just plain bored me. I had heard it all before. Which is no crime, but life is short. Crawler, though, is a bracing and exciting record, one that seems to deliver handsomely on the promise of their debut rather than settling for more of the singalong pub-punk of its follow-ups.

Here’s the lead single.