The Pop Group - Honeymoon on Mars

Albums by The Pop Group are like buses: you wait 35 years for one and then two come along at once. At least that was the size of the gap between their 1980 second album For How Much Longer Do We Tolerate Mass Murder? and its 2015 comeback follow-up Citizen Zombie. And now here comes Honeymoon on Mars, their second album in 12 months.

Perhaps the key to this renewed activity is not the reformation per se, but the continued musical activism of influential leader Mark Stewart, whose agit observations here are a continuation of his ongoing solo and collaborative work. The sprawling Michael 13 recalls prime Crime and the City Solution, and Instant Halo is a reminder that the band's deepest roots are not in the snappy guitars of post-punk, nor the industrial-electro beats that inspired the likes of Trent Reznor, but a dub foundation that ensures the The Pop Group remain as danceable as they are confrontational.