A frenetic punk banger.
IDLES are back, and they aren’t very happy with the world. New track ‘Colossus’ takes aim at the cult of the ‘real man’, that lager-swilling, musclebound, emotionless stereotype that manages to persist, even though it’s currently 2018, not 1918.
A slow, menacing build eventually flips into the kind of frenetic punk banger the band are known for, with singer Joe Talbot’s repeated refrain "It’s coming / It’s coming / It’s coming" giving way to a final fast-paced flurry featuring lyrics like "I’m like Stone Cold Steve Austin / I put homophobes in coffins", an inspired comparison if we've ever heard one.
IDLES are important because they manage to be both exciting and incisive, coupling furious, mosh pit inducing bangers with social commentary that doesn’t feel forced or clichéd. It may have only been a year since their last release, but we didn’t realise how much we missed them.
Jake Hawkes