With Divide & Conquer - a possible echo to the third opus from the Sleaford Mods - Stendhal Syndrom or even Heel/Heal, you could say that Idles have a way with words. And with metaphors, too. Brutalism, the baptismal name of this newborn, refers to the concrete that covered Europe throughout the 30-year post-war boom. Joe Talbot is rather direct when it comes to scratching the surface. And on the ugly stuff, there’s a lot to scratch. His mother exhausted by work, an England under Brexit that's dirtier than a teenager’s skin, the corrupted bourgeoisie. Form meets substance, with the prominent rhythmic section and the guitars relegated to the background, and the thirteen tracks of the already mature opus also wreak havoc. On the brain, on the stomach. There’s also a whole fauna. Because on the European stages, the men from Bristol finally turn up. The five plebs blast a punk with no additives like Eagulls most of the time, and lyricise the tension sometimes. As evidenced by the slow laments on Slow Savage. It’s carnage in a state of grace. © CS/Qobuz