Six years after their near career-ending last album, the jazz-influenced The Great Depression, Blindside have finally returned. This time, they’ve brought their anthemic pop-hardcore with them.

This was always a group well ahead of its time, making great screamo albums long before it was popular in the mainstream. They never quite got the success and acclaim they deserved. In a perfect world, With Shivering Hearts We Wait would change all that.

In many ways it’s a back-to-basics album, but Blindside have honed their song-writing considerably. A song like ‘My Heart Escapes’ could stand alongside anything on rock radio. Elsewhere, the band implement a far more commercial and electronic sound. ‘Monster on the Radio’ may be the most accessible thing they’ve ever done. That is, until ‘Our Love Saves Us’ comes along, with an outright pop production that reminded me of Jonezetta.

The irony is that where they were ahead of the curve before, they might be a bit late to the party this time. I hope not, because this album, while not quite up there with Silence, is certainly a solid return to form.

Three and a half stars out of five