"Bastille present their most experimental album to date."
✰✰✰✰/5
Collaborations with Marshmello ('Happier') and Craig David ('I Know You') have breathed new life into Bastille as the band present their most experimental album to date.
The four-piece document one apocalyptic night on third record, 'Doom Days' , a reaction to its intense predecessor 'Wild World' - which saw Bastille unleash their anger at the state of world politics.
Through the genre-hopping trap and EDM beats of 'Doom Days', gospel-tinged 'The Waves', euphoric-electro 'Those Nights' and the infectious 'Joy' - a career-best from the 'Pompeii' hitmakers - the band take fans on an emotional rollercoaster through sonic experimentation as they explore the power of human connection in dark times.
'Another Place', a future hit, has the lyrical genius of Ed Sheeran - if not better.
'Bad Decisions' combines a wild night out making the wrong choices with a tongue-in-cheek reaction the Brexit result, with the line “feeling lower than the sterling”.
'4am' is the most stripped back on the album, with a joyous choral backing and subtle beats, built for that moment at a concert when the audience is a sea of phone lights.
The album's title might be joyless, but the overall feeling of 'Doom Days' is ironically sanguine.
'Doom Days' is released on June 14 via Virgin EMI.