Yak - Take It

There’s more to Yak than all-out noise. Sure, they might be masters of madness, channeling fury into their every off-the-cuff move, but pull back the discordance and scrape off the grime and there’s a glimmering heart to it all. On ‘Take It’, that melodic side faces forward like never before.

Shivery and brooding, that signature sound of thick-as-mud fuzz is shackled up. Oli Burslem murmurs his way through its opening minutes, his usual full-throated scream replaced by a bleary-eyed, out-of-breath exasperation. Rhythmic repetition still rules Yak’s roost, but this time it ties those knots ever-tighter, rather than bludgeoning you into submission.

By the time things inevitably erupt, those carefully assembled blocks tumbling down, Yak have made their point clear. Debut album ‘Alas Salvation’ is a shapeshifter - to pin Yak as one-track-minded noiseniks would be a very silly mistake indeed.