‘So What?’ is a clear and brilliant evolution from While She Sleeps, proving once again that they are indeed the fittest.

The band’s second release from their very own Sleeps Brothers label, takes us on a journey through the shithole that is an ever so dystopian society.

Actually, ‘So What?’ is more like a safari trail, where all the bastards that ever got in your way are the game, and you’re armed with a grenade launcher and several submachine guns. Just another band from Sheffield, you know, like if BMTH and Rolo Tomassi are just other bands from the Steel City, then these guys can sit deservedly alongside them, nodding in appreciation and affirmation at their pedestalled positions.

What better way to start off your post-apocalyptic revenge safari than big release ’Anti-Social’. Here we have a track that epitomises the pure dench fuck offness of this record, and it’s only the first song. It’s ominous opening flickers into life with a juddering of guitars before we’re lulled into a false sense of security by sinister whispers. What follows is a call out of flaws in society rather than the person itself, a real “it’s not me it’s you” breakup with the population that it’s tough to not get behind.

Watch ‘The Guilty Party’ by While She Sleeps:

Our ears prick up on ‘Inspire’, which takes a leaf from their aforementioned brethren’s BMTH with beautifully intricate electronics, which only enhance the trademark soundscapes of harmonies and heaviness we always come to expect from WSS. ‘The Guilty Party’ is a treacherously catchy machine, sucking us in to every word uttered, daring us to not have the vocals stuck in our brains after just one pull of the lever and ‘Set You Free’s ethereal start followed by almost Oasis like vocals is a refreshing spring with which we can use to recharge our mad-as-hell batteries and cleanse our souls, ready to take on the rest of this unforgivingly relentless epic.

Penultimate track ‘Back of my Mind’ is a strange beast, perhaps a kind of Frankenstein in this hunting ground, a rare and rough diamond that could maybe have done without the funny twinge of Daft Punk robotics and unnecessary rapping. It may have been relentless up to this point, but ‘While She Sleeps’ 2.0 has been slowly installing within this jungle simulation, so to delicately ease us into this new sound of theirs, only to glass us with this cheeky cocktail of a track right before the finish line seems counterproductive.

This is not to take anything from a real accomplishment of an album for this Yorkshire quintet, ‘So What?’ is still a record full of grit and anger and hutzpah, that tells it how it is, pulling no punches and taking no prisoners, so you better set those grenade launchers from stun to kill.

While She Sleeps’ ‘So What?’ is out now: Apple Music | Spotify | Amazon | Google Play