By Luke James

Rating: 4 out of 5.

Label: Brutalist Records

‘Clear’ is the latest album by This Will Destroy Your Ears. However, the album has been out in France it is now let loose in the U.K via Brutalist Records.

With a name like This Will Destroy Your Ears you almost brace yourself for hitting the play button, expecting to hear some sort of sonic carnage. Rather than being an all out assault on your ears, ‘Clear’ has more in common with 80’s No Wave in both production and the brooding almost electronica feel to it.

While ‘Clear’ would sound at home in the No Wave era, songs such as ‘Leominster’ and ‘Safety Fray’ would sit comfortably next to Marilyn Manson and IDLES. Much like IDLES’ ‘Joy as an Act of Resistance’, the bass takes the lead on ‘Clear’. With the bass acting as the backbone for the album, it leaves the guitar free to go from sitting in the background to exploding into a wall of noise. This is best displayed in ‘(Un)believers’ where the chorus sees the guitar howling like an air siren before sinking back into the verse to create an ominous vibe with its almost wind-like wail.

‘Clear’ is an album that sounds brooding, dark and intense. Rather than coming off like some sort of dirge, This Will Destroy Your Ears attack their instruments and on songs such as ‘Where is my Cake’, almost channel the hypnotic, up tempo vibe of Joy Division. This is a powerful album that comes in like a dark cloud but not one that’s going to ruin your day any time soon.