The third album from IAMX enlarges on the grandeur of its predecessors to create a rich and complex sound. The album's sound is muddier than that of debut 'Kiss & Swallow' and second album 'The Alternative', however IAMX's singer and producer Chris Corner still achieves a slick, polished sound, without letting it overshadow the lyrical content.
The album's opener 'Nature Of Inviting' is a hypnotic tussle between the inevitability of surrender and the willingness to flee. The theme of fear and uncertainty underlying this song is picked up again on 'I Am Terrified', 'An I For An I' and the closer 'Running', whose gentle and almost redemptive tone stands in contrast to the rest of the tracks. The theatrical feel of 'The Alternative' is echoed on the title track, an exploration of the highs and lows of addiction. This is continued in 'Tear Garden' (a pun on Berlin's 'Tiergarten'), half-threat, half-warning of destruction backed by and insistent drums which build to a more and more unsettling rhythm.

'My Secret Friend', on which Corner's voice is beautifully complemented by that of Imogen Heap, reassurance is simultaneously sought and offered, a brief interlude in the midst of confusion. Attempts to make sense of this confusing world are made in 'The Stupid, The Proud', 'You Can Be Happy' and 'The Great Shipwreck Of Life'. All three hint at the deceptive promises of modern life and the hollowness left behind when they prove false.

The album's highpoint comes in 'Think Of England', a heart-quickening ride through a familiar-yet-strange cityscape where the willing exile's expectations were disappointed.

This album is IAMX's strongest yet and displays perfectly Chris Corner's ability to evoke emotions and landscapes. Its sound is epic, yet this is not mere surface sheen; each lyric is profound and the songs would stand up when stripped of their layered orchestration an performed acoustically. This is an urgent and poetic journey through addiction, fear, isolation, destruction and resignation which you cannot help but be swept along by.

By Ruth Thompson