The Go! Team | C-

It's been four years since The Go! Team released their sophomore effort Proof of Youth, but not much has changed for the British collective. Rolling Blackouts is an album of contrasts; mesmerising at its high points, tedious at its lows. Opener "T.O.R.N.A.D.O." fits its title perfectly, rushing out as a pure wave of noise, complete with The Go! Team's trademark catchy chants. Unfortunately, the quality isn't sustained, even if the level of energy is.

Rolling Blackouts is full of great hooks, both instrumental and lyrical, but nearly every song fails to develop and leaves a slight aftertaste of disappointment. "Secretary Song" opens fantastically but fades into monotony. "Buy Nothing Day," featuring Bethany Cosentino of Best Coast, fails emphatically to do anything interesting, and "The Running Rage" is a just a mess of clashing noises. That's not to say the album is without merit. At times it's so listenable it becomes ever so slightly infuriating when the standard drops away again.

The intermissive "Super Triangle" clocks in at just less than two minutes and is entirely instrumental. It offers an island of calm, and uniquely for Rolling Blackouts, a sense of a fully developed song. Closing track "Back like 8 Track" acts as a reminder of how good The Go! Team's debut LP Thunder, Lightning, Strike was, but by and large it's an underwhelming affair.

The problem doesn't come from lack of trying — it's perfectly evident that the four years between albums have been spent formulating new, experimental ideas. Rather, it stems from the lack of editing. Too many songs contain clashing melodies and act more as a barrage of noise than anything particularly pleasing. There's enough good material here to avoid despair, but that's about as much praise as can be given.