7/10

Since first emerging back in 2008 with their debut album 'The Airing Of Grievances', art-punk outfit Titus Andronicus have quickly become one of the most loved cult bands working today. With a mixture of tenacious punk energy and a flair for obscure subject matter, the band have joined the likes of Fucked Up and Idles in turning punk into something more than just a ferocious and nihilistic form of music. And after a wave of creativity that ended with last year's LP 'A Productive Cough', the band now return with their sixth full-length 'An Obelisk', a bold and unstoppable juggernaut of noise.

From the very start, 'An Obelisk' looks to play into the band's strengths as a forward-thinking outfit that still know how to please their long faithful fans. Filled with anthemic riffs and a blistering pace, this new collection sees the group focused and more honed to their sound than ever. With their political and societal satire still running throughout this release, as well as outside it with the promotions for the album mocking the usual run of buzz that some bands try to create, it sees group coming full circle as a band no longer looking in from the outside, but one now a part of the system and looking to inject as much poison to it from the inside.

While it still has that rough-around-the-edges appeal that they have always looked to create, 'An Obelisk' stands as probably their most commercially-angled record to date. While their previous attempts have been a mixture of self-indulgent rock operas and tongue-in-cheek takes on the music industry, this one simply looks to want to have a good time, and it most certainly achieves that goal.