Wire - Send

Comprising tracks from last year's Read And Burn EP, its mail-order follow-up and four new tracks, Send is a return to the blistering, all-cylinders-blazing spirit of their 1977 debut album, from which their new label takes its name. No angular, honeyed pop digressions here, no spatial avant-rock; Send is pure gristle, a vicious statement of musical intent.

Difference is, after a quarter of a century, they come at us heavily armed with state-of-the-art technology, which lends this album a density and dimension lacking in their skinny punk beginnings. Standouts include the scorching "Mr Marx's Table" and the typically cryptic but fiercely turned "The Agfers Of Kodak".

Rating: 4 / 10