Reaching 30 years as a band together is a huge achievement (even if there’s been a bit of time out in the middle there), but by that milestone there’s an expectation and forgiveness from long-term fans that there’ll be a certain amount of coasting, of living on past glories. Then there’s coming back at that point with the most vital, inventive and best album you’ve put out in years. Guess which of those two options Skunk Anansie have smashed on The Painful Truth?
Ever since their 1995 debut Paranoid & Sunburnt, Skunk Anansie have existed in a category of one – there is simply no one else like them. But here, they’ve taken everything that made them special in the first place – the punk attitude, the driving rock melodies, and frontwoman Skin’s incredible voice – and rearranged it all into something thrillingly fresh and recognisably now.
