Bloc Party - Mercury

It’s a risky business reviewing new Bloc Party material, given the slow burner that Weekend In The City revealed itself to be, but Mercury, I am confident, will still be the worst single they have released even if I locked myself in a room with it until Halloween. A nauseating chorus that could only be excused (at a push) had it been a remix, flanked by horns that suggest an absurd application for the new James Bond theme song and tinny, bored drums that nearly make you forget this is the same band that penned Pioneers and Banquet. It's a damn shame: not even three albums in and the Party seems pretty much pooped. [Finbarr Bermingham]