7/10

Despite being hugely influential to modern bands like Bloc Party and Franz Ferdinand due to their eclectic and prolific output in the 70s and 80s, veteran post-punkers Wire have also managed to maintain a revived career in the 21st century and now release the thirteenth album of their career so far. Simply called 'Wire', this new full-length looks to create a retrospective collection of tracks that combine the directions of their previous albums, resulting in one of their most concise releases to date.

While the album opens with the brooding and almost industrial sounding 'Blogging', the rest of the record seems to hark back to their chosen sound of rigid and robotic songwriting that instantly brings back the nostalgic feeling within their origins. Simple yet well-formed songs are the basis of this new release and with the band's near 40 years worth of experience, the record has just the right amount of experimental exploration to keep them sounding more relevant and contemporary as ever.

While the record does begin to lose its initial impact quite quickly, the songs on their own still manage to hit the mark they are looking for. Solum yet forceful, 'Wire' definitely doesn't sound like a band on the edge of quitting any time soon.