Savages: Adore Life (Matador)

At this distance it was easy to be sceptical about the British music press embracing Savages and their album-cum-manifesto Silence Yourself three years ago.

The all-women quartet — who asked people not to take photos at their shows and are thrilling live by all accounts — delivered a bellicose take on Siouxsie and the Banshees/Penetrations//post-punk thrash which was undeniably passionate, if familiar.

In that regard not a lot has changed except here the intensity feels more raw and real, the influences worn more comfortably, the songs mixed by electronica producer Trentemoller are frequently white-knuckle tight and the tough socio-political messages are about love in its many manifestations (tension, sex, need, sadism, rage).

And amidst the fury — sometimes like Patti Smith fronting Gang of Four turned up to 11 – are the brooding and distorted ballad Adore, the more measured Slowing Down the World and percussive I Need Something New, and the surprisingly poppy (albeit duffed up) Surrender.

The five-minute closer Mechanics is like an industrial-strength, slow-burning and yearning tone poem.

So when placed alongside that debut, Adore Life has more texture and depth, and is the better for it.

If you wondered what the Savages' fuss was about, here's the fuss.