Bloc Party [Twitter/Facebook] fans, listen up: those of you (and there are plenty) who have been longing to hear the band return to their roots and produce another Silent Alarm won’t be completely satisfied with this album. As for me, well, I’m not sure if they’re ‘that’ band anymore – then again, I don’t want them to be, and maybe it’s time for their fanbase to stop wishing for the same thing. Seven years is a long time, and recent comments made by the band about how ‘everything we’ve tried to do has always been a progression’, suggest that Four is the sound of them moving on once again. It is; very much so, in fact, but they’ve done it with a confidence that wasn’t there last time out.

Rewind four years: the band had just split their fanbase down the middle with Mercury, and were about to stun them once again with the rush-release of LP3, announced as Intimacy not even three days before its release. The shock-and-awe approach fed into the anticipation of the album, and when it was released, the reaction was positive, as myriad new sides to the band (the chaotic Ares, the surprisingly muscular Trojan Horse, the ambitious closer Ion Square) were unveiled. When the dust settled, however, what we were left with was quite a flawed album: if not in the overall strength of the material, then at least in the flow, which was more or less non-existent, at least to these ears.

We all know what happened next: the band went on hiatus. Russell Lissack indulged his electro-pop side with Pin Me Down and spent some time on tour with Ash; Gordon Moakes’s music went in a heavier direction in Young Legionnaire; Matt Tong kept relatively quiet for a while; whilst Kele’s solo album, The Boxer (and subsequent EP, The Hunter) allowed him to indulge his more eclectic styles in full. They all had things to get out of their respective systems; but now, that’s been accomplished, they’re back together, they’ve come back with renewed focus, and it doesn’t take long for this to become clear.

Opener So He Begins to Lie has an immediate impact, with Tong’s drums kicking things off before a buzzsaw riff enters and Bloc Party MK IV get going in earnest. The tried-and-tested energetic opener has worked well for them in the past, and its soaring chorus and almost post-rock-ish breakdown help the quartet to make a forceful return. Much like the confrontational lyrics to Team A suggest (‘If you wanna throw down, we can go downtown, any damn time of the week … I’m gonna ruin your life’), they’re not fucking around. From there, it’s straight into 3×3, which captures the band at their absolute rawest, their earlier, more post-punk-influenced sound given a darker, more intense twist.

Speaking of more intense, Moakes’s time in Young Legionnaire’s definitely had an impact on some of the new material: album highlight Kettling, set against the backdrop of last year’s riots (‘We smash the windows, po-po don’t fuck around / As the cameras take pictures of us, we just laugh’) is dominated by powerful riffing, and sounds like the band have once again tried to take themselves out of their comfort zone. Thing is, though, it works – brilliantly. It’s one of the moments on the album when they go all out, but this is far from Bloc Party’s ‘rock record’.

The angular sound of lead single Octopus (which works wonderfully in album context) rubs shoulders with Real Talk‘s effortless pop brilliance, Tong’s drumming anchoring the song as it goes, its difficult syncopation giving it a particularly confident sound as it builds towards a stunning key change for the final chorus. Unlike when they pulled the same trick for One Month Off, this seems completely natural and not at all forced. There are further surprises in store, too: Coliseum is almost like three songs in one, a bluesy intro giving way to some more monstrous riffing, with plenty of time signature changes thrown in for good measure. Its unpredictability makes it thrilling, and it clatters to a halt after two-and-a-half minutes, moving straight into V.A.L.I.S., which comes closer to the ‘traditional’ Bloc Party sound than anything else here, sounding like it could have been written during the sessions for A Weekend in the City.

On Four, there are riffs, there are surprises aplenty, and there are some of the band’s best songs since their debut. There are also some exquisitely beautiful moments, such as the sublime coda to Day Four, and penultimate track The Healing, one of the band’s best slow songs, its delicate guitar lines and sublime vocal performance – Okereke’s pushed himself on this album more than anyone else, excepting perhaps Tong – helping to wind the album down before the blistering closer We’re Not Good People, which bucks the Bloc Party tradition of having an atmospheric closer in favour of something bracing and energetic, Okereke yelping his lyrics and even blowing off some steam by punctuating the song with screams after the first chorus. Quite comfortably, the album is their best work since Silent Alarm – a true masterpiece, but not quite as untouchable as was thought previously – and sounds like their most confident album since their inception. They’re back, and they’re a band again: four people in a room pouring their hearts and souls into their music like perhaps never before.

Four will be released on Frenchkiss Records on August 20th.

[PRE-ORDER] Bloc Party – Four [All formats available on the band’s site]