Sees Flight Brigade continuing to fulfil their potential.

After becoming aware of Flight Brigade back in 2012, having caught them at a couple of festivals in quick succession, they're a band who've been on the radar and whose progress has since been closely monitored. Existing on the very tasty diet of EP releases, it seemed an age until their debut album 'Our Friends Our Enemies' was unveiled in 2016. That record confirmed the promise of the seven-piece whose comparison to the likes of Arcade Fire's vibrant Indie spirit seems both natural and justified. Flight Brigade are a dynamic group with a dynamic sound.

Three years on (we're now used to the wait), 'Chased By Wolves' comes courtesy of Visconti Studios and producer Chris Porter – of George Michael, Elton John and David Bowie fame. This may possibly go some way to explaining the neon Glam nature of recent band promo photos. However, there's a very familiar blast from the past that comes with 'Sirens' – a song that's been around since 2011's 'Shaw Court Sessions' EP – and which, in its latest form, still retains its appeal and now boasts a more modern coating with an electronic patter alongside the dreamy vocal treatment.

Elsewhere across the other ten tracks, there's a strong element of the group's personal stories that come into play as inspiration for the songs. We're very close to home with relationships a strong theme; marriages surviving the challenges thrown into the mix, what the future holds for our children, courageous yet ultimately tragic battles against adversity and ultimately a "what doesn't kill you makes you stronger" philosophy all rendered through outstanding vocal arrangements.

'Where Eagles Dare' owes a nod to the band's own journey and encapsulates the tone of the album in its capture of Flight Brigade 2019. There's also a dig at the cut-throat nature of the music business that's explored in the title-track; the line "about being shit scared" sums it up in a brutally concise way, the experience adding what they bravely call "an emotional charge" to the release. A group whose live show sees them at their compelling best, 'Fury Road' and 'Stranger Things' go some way to capturing that expansive feel on a record.

Following the personal outpourings, you can forgive a diversion into fantasy as 'Creature' acknowledges the band's love for J. R. R. Tolkien and Middle Earth in a brooding epic to close an album that sees Flight Brigade continuing to fulfil their potential.

Mike Ainscoe