On their debut, Savages were hardly without a sturdy backbone, but it only takes seconds of their follow up to see that this time round, they mean serious business.
‘The Answer’ rides a fevered riff into battle like a warhorse. Arty-proto- punk is matched to flat-out rock muscle, and it works. ‘Adore Life’ is every bit the clenched fist of its cover art.
Sure, its opening gambit is the most in your face moment, but the brooding tension never drops off. Savages make the widest vistas feel pleasing claustrophobic; the machine-gun drum and bass thunder at the heart of ‘T.I.W.Y.G.’, the hissing groove of ‘Evil’ – take them on at your peril. Stephen Ackroyd