

Not many British alt-rock contemporaries boasted the fanbase enjoyed by the Jarman brothers across their first six studio albums and 13 years. Number seven feels like a gift to that heartland support: a record that brilliantly distills the band’s scrappy energy and marks a reunion with Nirvana engineer Steve Albini. Nirvana themselves are summoned on standout “Rainbow Ridge,” while the rawness bleeding from tracks like “Year of Hate” and “Deandrophobia” points towards a band still loaded with intent.