Getting Hurt

Like many people, I came to The Gaslight Anthem in late summer 2008, just as their breakthrough album The '59 Sound was causing a fuss in alternative circles with its decade-bending approach to rock (for the uninitiated, it sounded vaguely like Bruce Springsteen fronting The Alkaline Trio). That album has always remained one of the major musical highlights of the last decade for me, and its follow-ups - 2010's American Slang and 2012's Handwritten - eagerly anticipated as the band continued to take the influence of old-school heartland rock and serve it up to a generation raised on MTV punk.

So, the release of their fifth album this week is a welcome distraction. The band warned in advance that they'd taken a slightly different angle on this one, and sure enough, its heavier riffs and growling vocals are a shift from the pop-tinged sensibilities of previous records. Though it's still recognisably The Gaslight Anthem, there seems a significant element of Brian Fallon's bluesy side-project The Horrible Crowes present in the songwriting (which is no bad thing, as the Crowes album Elsie was a terrific collection of songs in its own right).

If Get Hurt has a weakness, it's that all of the songs are good, but none seem to immediately stand out as being great. I felt that American Slang - which was also a change in style at the time - suffered a similar problem; consistency is always good in a band, but you can't beat the occasional showstopper.