BLOC PARTY
ALPHA GAMES
INFECTIOUS
★★★
Two things one notices about Bloc Party’s sixth album are Kele Okereke’s fury and new drummer Louise Bartle’s corresponding ferocity. Okereke spits lyrics over Day Drinker, which builds to a hardcore ending, and this carries over to Traps, which is founded on a vicious rock riff, with Okereke then switching to sprechgesang. He maintains this on Callum Is A Snake, which is particularly frantic, and though the spiky guitars of By Any Means Necessary aren’t entirely new, The Girls Are Fighting puts glam makeup on post-punk.