Oblivion With Bells CD

Underworld are back with a soulful, contemplative, yet typically uplifting album. The single and album opener, "Crocodile", is simply as good as they get. "Ring Road" sees Hyde off on one of his famous psycho-geographic jaunts (this one around Romford, on St George's Day), marking time with his compelling word rhythms, while the treated found sounds in "Cuddle Bunny Vs Celtic Villages" conjures a decidedly non-cuddly, almost menacing atmosphere. The lusciously lowering "Beautiful Burnout" features Underworld's trademark synth swathes and swells with a somehow doomed beauty, but the minimal "Holding The Moth" boasts such a bassy spring it practically bounces clean off the vinyl. Meanwhile "Glam Bucket" shimmers like a sheet of liquid crystal and "Best Mamgu Ever" offers a sliver of downbeat, Balearic bliss at the albums close.