Radio 4 went static on 2004’s less than glorious Stealing Of A Nation. With nothing to match ‘Dancing To The Underground’ and no fun quotient, the New Yorkers became less a band and more a collective of sloganeering activists.
Enemies Like This, their fourth album, sees a lesson learned. Though they’re still hammering on about western society (‘Everything’s In Question’), corruption (‘Packing Things Up On The Scene’) and corporate greed (‘Ascension Street’), the political message is more weighted within the music rather than weighing it down. Vocalist and lyricist Anthony Roman has also realised that, dressed covertly, his message can pack more punch. ‘Grass Is Greener’, for example, is ostensibly a love song but it also serves as a critique of bureaucracy’s failed promises. Coupled with its swirling Echo & The Bunnymen rhythm and Roman’s intoxicated, stuttered wail, it makes for one of the album's highlights.
‘Packing Things Up On The Scene’, ‘Enemies Like This’ and ‘Always A Target’ are fine shots of angular dance punk, but there is a lack of variation throughout. Jagz Krooner’s production may inject some dub late on, but the laboured ‘All In Control’ and ‘This Is Not A Test’ sound as if Krooner has lazily flipped the Kasabian switch. The reggae/dancehall of ‘Ascension Street’ is a better fit, even if it does immediately evoke the ghost of The Clash. Not a bad thing necessarily, but it serves to further the argument that Radio 4 are still in the process of learning from the masters.