- Modern post-punk is a lot of things, but it’s rarely been a source for social commentary. Recent albums from older bands like Gang of Four and The Pop Group made simple social criticisms in-line with their traditionally political material, and new releases from female-fronted bands like Mourn and Sleater-Kinney added a feminist perspective to an otherwise relatively masculine musical scene. But these bands are the exception in the modern incarnation of the genre, which is still predominantly white, male, inward-focussed and largely apolitical. Algiers are immediately different, and it’s not just because of the sonic inspiration from gospel and soul readily apparent from the first seconds of their upcoming self-titled album. Politics are important to the band.

Even the Algiers website shows this right away, posting up links to old-school post-punk mixed with social criticism and actual Marxist theory. This aesthetic reflected in the music. Opening track Remains begins with a cold, monotonic synth line and the rhythmic stomp of drums and clapping hands. This is followed by a chorus of hums and a blues-inspired vocal line that drives the song forward into a cinematic cacophony that sounds like a deep-south revival church singing through a nuclear apocalypse. The mix of southern blues and post-punk bares a family resemblance to earlier US bands like The Gun Club or The Flesh Eaters, but it’s so much more than that, taking on something of the atheist-friendly spiritualism of Swans in its sonorous, religious sense of power. Rather than relying on dissonant guitar effects or goth aesthetics, Algiers draw their energy and frightening sense of power from real-life social inequality, apathy, and the challenges of change. This strong political stance is reflected most clearly in tracks like the flawless Irony Utility Pretext, the passionate Black Eunuch, or damning confessional of Blood.

Without attempting to commandeer the personal experiences that the album represents, this feels like a generation-defining sort of a release. Like Joy Division’s Unknown Pleasures, or The Sex Pistols Never Mind The Bollocks. Something new has happened here that goes beyond the current wave of post-punk revival and into something else: a revolutionary, intellectual and profoundly original sound that not only showcases the creativity and diversity of the modern scene, but its potential as a tool for social commentary, or radical political change. No matter who you are or what you’re into, you need to hear this album. Algiers are a breath of fresh air.

- Matthew Stoff.