Kids In Glass Houses - In Gold Blood

In Gold Blood feels like a rock album of old. The third effort from Kids In Glass Houses, the LP slides from track to track in a wash of guitar feedback and an energy that rarely leaves you pause for breath.

If the band's first two albums were cheerily consistent selections of potential singles, then In Gold Blood sees them taking a far different approach - here the album definitively has the feel of a complete body of work. It has pace, it has highs and lows, each track acting as a chapter in the riotous story the band aim to tell here.

There is no let up - In many ways the album feels like a studio take on a live show, but without the crowd noise or boozed-up spoken word interludes to rough things up. No, Kids In Glass Houses have already done a rather good of sufficiently 'roughing up' their noise already - and this is a good thing.

2008's youthful, intensely energetic Smart Casual (even the title basks in a kind of carefree haze) was more spritely than anything else - follow-up Dirt on the other hand basked in the charms of glossy New Wave sounds. In Gold Blood sees the band selecting a firm middle ground between these records, but also evolving - becoming more intense, real, gritty.

If anything, In Gold Blood's greatest strength is that it feels far more individual, more versatile in the tracks it presents the listener - all helping to make this the band's most consistent record to date.

The first half of the album is a masterclass in big, sing-along choruses, culminating in the brass-pumped The Florist - a track full of nods to songs like Biffy Clyro's The Captain. The horns return on Only The Brave Die Free, pop rock on an epic scale and a future festival fave for sure.

A surprise late-album highlight has to be Fire though, the group slowing the pace down for a remarkably pretty, emotional ballad. If ever a track was made to get people pulling their lighters and mobiles out, it was this one - the spacey guitar solo is divine.

In Gold Blood is available to purchase now.