were only about a year old when they cut their first album, 2021's . While it was a powerful and effective debut, the group's stylistic similarities to were painfully obvious, and it sometimes felt like they were still working out their own creative identity. Sixteen months later, with some touring under their belts, the band's template has changed a bit on their second LP, 2022's . The harsh, jagged guitar figures of and the heavyweight rhythm section of (bass) and (drums) once again create a wall of sound that vocalist plows through with his powerful voice and blank-verse lyrics, just as they did on their first long-player. That's not all they can do, though, and sees the band adding additional levels to their game. The languid and understated "Limehouse Cut" is built around moody synthesizer lines punctuated by slinky bass, "The Happiest Place on Earth" strips away ' usual attack in favor of acoustic guitar, and "The Breakers" could almost pass for a pop song in its relatively gentle melodic framework. Most of the time, are in attack mode here, but even then, their approach has grown a bit more artful, such as the dramatic build to an explosive climax on "Unraveling," and "One Easy Thing" leaves just enough room in the arrangement for the shards of guitar to stand out in greater relief. One thing that hasn't changed is , who still writes and hectors like gone to London on an exchange program. His saving grace on was that he was very good at what he was doing, and he's only improved on , reciting with an authority and edgy energy that makes the instrumentalists feel even more powerful (and vice versa). are still working on an individual sound judging from , and at the same time they're growing into a more accomplished and interesting band; their obvious talent makes them an act only a fool would ignore. ~ Mark Deming