Skunk Anansie Black Traffic, deluxe

2012, BLACK TRAFFIC - the band's sixth full-length release, named after the dark channels that wrap around the world, is the band's third album after they got back together in 2009 after a nine-year hiatus. It's the product of a lengthy and experimental process that saw the quartet rip up their own self-determined rulebook and start again. Written over a year and a half of month long sessions in London and Los Angeles and recorded with long-time friend of the band, the great Chris Sheldon (Foo Fighters, Biffy Clyro), it's an album that stands alongside the aggressive, forthright output of the Skunk Anansie cannon yet technically ups their game dramatically. The force field they've honed here is one that acutely taps in to the current political landscape and connects itself to their own social surroundings. Many regurgitated bands exist in a regressive, nostalgic state, but Skunk Anansie are very much present in the here and now without losing the core of who they are.