One decade and now four full-length albums into a blistering career, IDLES have always come across as an indie post-hardcore outfit with obvious depths. Were they a simple case of rabblerousing potboiler, would their 2022 live dates be selling as many bucketloads? 'Clack bang: that's the sound of the sold-out signs going up' as they might, but wouldn't, put it. On Crawler, their 14-strong new collection, a whole heap of hidden qualities have now emerged. For a kick-off, you might initially think you've accidentally put on Massive Attack's Mezzanine with opener 'MTT 420 RR' heavily referencing 'Angel' by their fellow Bristolians.

Later tracks such as the epic swinging soul of 'The Beachland Ballroom' and the trippy confessional of 'Progress' shine a very new light on proceedings (is that a mandolin?). But anyone yearning for their signature driving delirium can be reassured that it's all turned up to the highest number possible on 'The Wheel' and 'Crawl!' while the 30-second thrash surrealism of 'Whizz' simply has to be a band in-joke.

Some of those who come across Idles (they wouldn't seek them out, that's for sure) just hear belligerent mayhem and a vocal styling that careers between Sex Pistols' Johnny Rotten and The Young Ones' Vyvyan Basterd, while others can discern something far richer (and even funnier than both of those chaps). Firecracker frontman and whirling-dervish moth to the band's inextinguishable flame, Joe Talbot insists that this album is all about no longer trying to fix the world, but an attempt at starting to heal himself. With that purpose in mind, there are songs about highs and come-downs and damage, with track nine literally called 'Meds'.

'Car Crash' doubles up as his own description for himself while also referring to an actual close thing he encountered on a motorway. When you hear the rabid jollity with which Talbot yells 'In spite of it all / Life is beautiful' on 'The End', you could be convinced that he's well be on the way to something approximating contentment. OK, he might be quoting Trotsky a week before his head met an ice-pick, but the point surely stands.

IDLES: Crawler is released on Partisan, Friday 12 November.