A miserable mixture of illness, shoddy albums and 2007’s bitter departure of bassist Peter Hook had combined to make the 21st a difficult century for New Order. Now though, they’ve finally found their feet again.
Their flirtation with plodding rock appears to be over, so they’ve re-trenched and re-discovered what made them so great in the first place: booming synthesisers, Bernard Sumner’s detached but endearingly lonesome vocals and a sense of mischief which here leads to Iggy Pop growling his way over the daft but inspired Stray Dog.
Elsewhere, Killers singer Brandon Flowers is more subtle on the barbed epic Superheated, which keeps threatening to break into Sigue Sigue Sputnik’s Love Missile F1-11 and La Roux sprinkles her magic over a fistful of tracks.
New Order are back yet again, but they’ve done it properly this time.
(Mute)
