Snapped Ankles

★★★★ Forest Of Your Problems THE LEAF LABEL. CD/DL/LP

Eccentric, rabble-rousing groovers with a serious message.

Snapped Ankles are East London’s postpunk shamans of the motorik groove, who clad themselves in verdant ghillie suits that suggest ancient woodland spirits onstage. As with 2019’s Stunning

Luxury, the deleterious effects of capitalism remain a target on their third album. But their scope has expanded, resulting in this riotous takedown of eco-hypocrisy and corporate greenwashing to the accompaniment of rhythms so wildly exuberant they could rearrange loins. Psithurhythm is an explosion in a tom-tom factory with a bass line to match. At times, like the military marchmeets-glam techno of Rhythm Is Our Business, frontman Austin’s barked utterances have a MES-ian quality. On other occasions – the tumultuous Teutonic throb of Xylophobia – the punky, abrasive disco that Andrew Weatherall cooked up with The Asphodells is a reference point.