DOESITOFFENDYOUYEAH – “DON’T SAY WE DIDN’T WARN YOU” CD

Free of their major label shackles, Does It Offend You, Yeah? could not feel more unleashed, in control, reanimated. They are one of the few bands around today who feel capable of anything, restrained by no one and thrilled to be beating at the boundaries of their own possibilities.

Fusing their original concoction of Justice, Metronomy and Prodigy with a new sense of stylistic adventure and synthetic violence all their own, Don t Say We Didn t Warn You promises to be one of 2011 s most visceral and inventive yet surprisingly accessible assaults on the senses. When it s not delving into Soviet squelches, Billy Holiday-esque vocal samples and grime raps courtesy of educated battler Trip on Wondering , it s recreating the Blade Runner soundtrack on The Knife , or coming on like a meta-Muse on John Hurt so named because the legendary actor was due to feature on the track, until the band s ex-manager missed his window .

Acoustic guitar segments drop unexpectedly out of hardcore techno thrashes. Zulu chants weave around cartoon monster glam stomps. Don t Say We Didn t Warn You surprises and astounds at every turn; unpredictability is king, no barrier is left un-demolished. It s a spectacular rebirth, a breaking out of boxes, as evinced by the two tracks which bookend it. At the far end you have the devastating Broken Arms , a virtually synth-free suicide ballad redolent of Radiohead s Motion Picture Soundtrack , the first song written for the album in an attempt to do something completely different . And right upfront, the resurrection march of We Are The Dead , a zombie barn-dance interspersed with 60s-psych acoustic interludes.

This is our break-out album, says synthster Dan Coop. It has got balls-out angry stuff and serene melancholic, quite depressing stuff as well. We d rather show all our hands like that rather than write a whole album that sounds the same. A good plan, since this is hair-raising stuff: a laser blast from the underground, future rock rebels running riot. Don t say they didn t warn you...