9/10

As one of the cult stalwarts of modern music, Dan Bejar aka Destroyer has returned after four years to deliver the follow-up to his much-acclaimed record 'Kaputt'. Now onto his tenth full-length release, 'Poison Season' looks to bridge the gap of his usual left-of-centre direction with something more familiar, and in the process has created one of the most easy to listen to albums of the year so far.

With obvious nods to the likes of David Bowie, especially using his sprechgesang singing style, his voice floats over a bed of rich brass instrumentation and anthemic production-styles to create this truly uplifting release. Hitting the zeniths of a full orchestral rendition at times, 'Poison Season' is an eclectic yet driven release that aims to fuse a whole range of different musical styles through the frontman's ever hypnotic voice, resulting in one of the most enjoyable releases of the year so far.

You would be hard pushed to find an album with this much professionalism and musical genius on it this year. It is clear that even after so many releases over the last two decades, Bejar hasn't lost his brilliant touch in writing truly exceptional new music.