Here we go with another new album from The Bravery, which means the professional critics are piling on so quick the reviews are as half-assed as they are negative. It’s hardly a surprise – this is an antagonistic band, intentionally so or not. There’s something in vocalist Sam Endicott’s delivery and demeanor that both transmits and invites scorn.

So let’s save the indignation and get a couple well known caveats out of the way: 1. Yes, the band are hardly the most original. 2. Yes, the band are truly terrible live. 3. Yes, their best song was Honest Mistake and 4. Yes, they’re probably never going to be that good again.

Okay, got it out of your system? If not go through the list again because once you get past that justifiable tension you’ll find Stir The Blood has got some great songs on it. It’s New York club music, made to be listened to whilst leaning against a reverberating wall, the volume so loud the instruments are indistinguishable. It comes across cynical, ruminates on alienation and withdrawal, and moves like a twenty-something with a sway lifted from a Goddard movie.

Yeah, you want to pop the band one in the mouth, but that doesn’t change the fact that these guys can take a well worn set of tools and build a catchy song. Is it memorable? Probably not, but for a moment in time it’s both pugilistic and beautiful and that’s a far sight more than most bands can do.

MP3: The Bravery – The Spectator
[Off Stir The Blood, out now. Stream It. Buy It.]