Some bands just seem to get it right - they don't fail to hit the mark on their first album despite an over-hyped début EP, they don't choke on album number two and they always manage to develop just enough to keep things interesting but not so much so as to lose what made them great.

Rush released following a leak online and some pesky pirates doing their thing (how does this stuff still catch labels off-guard?) the Yeah Yeah Yeahs return with their third album, out now on MP3 and at the beginning of April on CD.

Back with David Sitek on production duties, It's Blitz! manages to push the envelope in the right way. There is without doubt a development of the sound - things are, on the whole, a little softer and a touch more electronic - but it is the contrast that shines. The strings and delicate piano of 'Runaway' into the snappy funk of 'Dragon Queen'. The reveal of 'Dull Life' where Karen O. removes the mask and lets the anger shine and the beautifully tender 'Skeletons' with it's subtle wandering electronic melodies. The Yeah Yeah Yeahs have never struggled to deliver truly astounding ballads (just revisit 'Maps') and there are several here.

It's Blitz is a short album yet it packs in all the ideas and ambition you would expect for a band that have left three years since their last full release. From the opening 'Zero', one of the best album openers in years, the quality doesn't let up. Yeah Yeah Yeahs have done it again.

BP x