For shame’s third album, the London quintet have generated their most mature work to date.

The musical output of shame can be reflected as a capturing of energy in regards to the time in which the albums are made. Their debut album ‘Songs of Praise’ is a raucous, undulated feat of creating a post punk sound. The follow up, ‘Drunk Tank Pink’, muses on the rigor of tour life accompanied with an edgier, darker sound. So where does that put their newest album ‘Food For Worms’ in their chronology?

The arrival of shame’s newest album stems from a run of intimate live shows, playing new material out on the road before entering the recording process. At their most collaborative, we find the group of good ole boys pushing the post punk elements of their music even further from the gloom that attached itself to their previous album. I’d say that this is their best album to date, elevating their production and storytelling to achieve a 43-minute cohesive selection of songs. At a point where putting a genre label on bands becomes somewhat of an exhausting task (let’s just call it some type of rock and be done with it, surely), shame have found their own lane to expand and evolve within.

The production being helmed by Flood (of U2, Nick Cave and PJ Harvey fame) proves as a good partnership for the musical outfit, accomplishing a mix of clear and convoluted sounds that are created with intent and direction. It is an elevation of their sound that works best live and unruly. There’s a lot to digest in the instrumentation which makes the album best at first listen and even better at the second.

The sonics of the album demand to be heard live. Take the single “Six Pack”,  a trip of whammy loud guitars and distortion, telling the listener of a stream of luck taking place despite being stuck within one space, creating a contradiction between everything you’ve wanted happening whilst also being in the same place.

Something that the band never fail to provide is a showcase of vulnerability, expressed in the sombre sequences within songs like ‘Orchid’ and ‘Burning by Design’. This is also accessed through the lead vocalist Charlie Steen and his singing efforts, raw and earnest, a slight departure from the post-punk laden demanding attitude that came from his shouty vocals previously and are still present within this album.

We have themes of growing up, ageing and witnessing change at the forefront here,  coming to accept things that have come to be. Lyrics from the track ‘Aderall’ (featuring a quiet focal feature from queen of features, Miss Phoebe Bridgers), acknowledge a modern-day vice that is used by so many young people of today. ‘It's just a momentary ecstasy’ punctuates this chasing of temporary bliss. You could also look to the lyrics of ‘Different person’ that put this exact sentiment quite blatantly with the lines ‘I guess you're changing/It had to happen eventually’.

The closing tracks are what really seal the deal on this well-crafted album, capturing this drive that one could put to an end of a coming-of-age film. And that’s exactly what this album could be described as, the band coming of age. Leaving us with the shot of a group of friends, walking with their backs to the camera into a distance, coming out of the end of something, arms around one another’s shoulders, alive.