We talk about plenty of metal here at Nine Circles, but we also enjoy music from other genres. “Rainbows in the Dark” is our outlet to explore those other types of sounds and share them with you.

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For so long, you really couldn’t discuss The Libertines without bringing up frontman Pete Doherty‘s battles with drug addiction. It didn’t have much to do with their music, but it also couldn’t really have hit the band’s trajectory much harder. The side-effects — Doherty’s time in prison, the bust-ups with his co-founder, Carl Barât, etc. — all led to an untimely dissolution in 2004, after just two albums. Which was really a shame, because within an oversaturated garage rock revival landscape, the London quartet had established themselves as one of the best.

Fast forward a bit. The band reunites for festival gigs in London, Reading and Leeds. Doherty completes treatment in a Thai rehab clinic. And then, just a month ago, the band drops their improbable third album, Anthems for Doomed Youth. And wouldn’t you know it: the thing’s actually pretty good! Eleven years between albums, and the band picks up right where they left off, with a 12-song set that stands up nicely with their now-legendary back catalogue.

Anthems has all the hallmarks of a great Libertines record. It’s got the smoky, strained vocal duets from Doherty and Barât and the usual blend between upbeat tunes (“Barbarians,” “Belly of the Beast”) and calmer ones (“Anthem for Doomed Youth,” “The Milkman’s Horse”). It’s got that classic, ever-so-slight air of melancholy set over-top the band’s otherwise cheery-sounding, lightly overdriven chord progressions. At the same time, it’s clear the frontmen recognize that, a decade later, they’re no longer spring chickens. Midway through the album, for example, they bring in a piano part on the ballad, “You’re My Waterloo.” And all throughout, new producer Jake Gosling keeps the sound relatively polished — a noticeable departure from the raw fury Mick Jones captured on the band’s first two albums.

All told, it’s a logical and highly competent third album, with plenty of material worth revisiting. For a while, there was, something strangely appropriate about what we all thought was the end of the line for the band — an album with songs called “Can’t Stand Me Now” and “Road to Ruin,” released just before they split up? — but now here we are, and the script’s been rewritten. It’s never been easy to predict the Libertines, so for now, let’s just hope Doherty can keep himself clean, and that there’s more to come from these likely lads…

Keep it heavy,
Dan