Dublin's Gothic rockers September Girls have come back stronger than ever on new album Age of Indignation. Following in the darker, louder footsteps paved by their Veneer EP of last year, the ten tracks here are not only brimming with confidence but with bristling energy and intent. The opener 'Ghost' is a six minute powerful dirge, elevated in the final third as guitars build on each other and coalesce, a menacing caterwaul. The organ is prevalent here as it is throughout the album, haunting and instilled with lurking insistence, a choral clarion call to the Underworld. The bass growls on 'Jaw On The Floor', underpinning the disdain and sneers, kicking against the literal pricks, adamant that no one will "keep us down/And falling". The lyrics step up further, moving from feminist screeds to a funereal diatribes against religion and church ('Catholic Guilt' and its oscillating chapel organ is the obvious example here, with lines such as "You say this is for our own protection" and "You put us in this vessel/Built from our own fears" a clear swipe at systemic lies, cover ups and abuse). Vocally, again the harmonies are top-rate, and it is interesting to see the girls still alternating lead but tonally assimilating into an overall "September Girls sound". It screams of clarity and cohesion - the quintet are laser-focused here, cutting through the dark to incisively stamp their presence on the world. Their Gothic post-punk take on garage rock has evolved into something more definitive, and done with power and conviction. Age of Indignation can be bought through Fortuna Pop here. The girls hit out in May, playing Islington O2 on the 19th.
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