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English post-punk quartet belt out stellar third.

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A real tour-de-force of different cogs from various hardcore bands, High Vis are a sweltering deluge of baggy, post-punk noise that’s been lighting up nefarious scene since their tenure in 2016.

It’s not a conjoined project that’s gone awry, that’s for sure. Their first fully-fledged studio album was No Sense No Feeling in 2019 with Walking Wires and Choose to Lose at the helm, it was apparent that the group wouldn’t be a hot-flash-in a-pan-project for something else to do. Gazing at their pedals at one moment, spin-kicking to the next, it’s fair to say that High Vis have been persistent at the old whetting of the whistle.

Now, they return to the fold with their third contender, Guided Tour. With the album being worked on since their second Bleeding in 2022, it can be said that enough time has passed to work the kinks out. That it has. Opting for more of the same potent guitar-led lining of shoegaze, the 11-track record is a stunner. Roused by anthems of yesteryear amongst a life not all too privy to despair, High Vis keep their hardcore cards close to their chest as they expand to an all life-affirming commune. Feeling Bless is a striking ballad reminiscent of a sort that Madchester stalwarts Stone Roses may pull out. Drop Me Out deals in shared trauma keeping that ever-present four-to-the-floor drums and striking guitars smacking hard against the walls. Mob DLA keeps the band weighted however, with its doomy set-up – a nod still to the raucous scenes that have been so good to them in the past.

The stand-out and new sense of direction from the band comes in the shape of Mind’s a Lie. Opting with the shapes of trip-hop and bobbing samples that they kind of shot in the dark with at the time, it’s a major hark-back to Sayle and Harper’s pre-punk years, as it explores rolling jungle bass and techno airwaves. Guided Tour offers more of the same washy scope of post-punk and hardcore noise on sedatives. Above all else though, it offers another fresh and clean-cut take from a band who rarely seem to miss when that boat gets pushed out even further.

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