Warthur Skunk Anansie reunite after 11 years for their first album after Post-Orgasmic Chill, and it's almost as though they never left. The drift away from angry, overtly political material continues as Skin regales the listener with songs about love and lust that manage to avoid being simple love songs thanks to the nuances and complexities of the emotions expressed. Rather than creating the usual Skunk Anansie awkward juxtaposition of angry rants and ballads, here the band seem content to spend most of the album in ballad mode, which is somewhat to the album's detriment, since in the long term it seems to lack the diversity of musical vision which made the band's earlier albums such wild rides and doesn't bring anything to table to match the anger of Paranoid & Sunburnt, the delicious conflict between strident fury and doubting self-analysis on Stoosh, or the experimentalism of Post-Orgasmic Chill. Still, closing track I Will Stay But You Should Leave is nice.

Warthur Before Skunk Anansie broke up for the first time, they went out on a high. Post-Orgasmic Chill is a skillful followup to the classic Stoosh, and finds the band demonstrating their effortless mastery of atmosphere and mood in a hard rock/alternative metal context.

The angry political rants are once again present and correct - one of the best this time is On My Hotel TV, in which Skin holds up the media's bemused reaction to the band as an example of precisely the social evils their songs were directed at - as is the more emotional and personal material which became the focus of Stoosh. (Tracy's Flaw is perhaps the band's most tender and beautiful love song, whilst Secretly offers the most emotionally raw and heart-wrenching performance of Skin's career.) On top of that, the band begin to introduce some decidedly strange twists to their music - best showcased on the opening track, the downright sinister Charlie Big Potato - and it'd have been interesting to see where such experiments might have led.

Whilst I don't think it's quite the masterpiece Stoosh was - in particular, it begins to lose steam towards the end - Post-Orgasmic Chill proves that Skunk Anansie were a far more musically versatile and intelligent act than they were often given credit for.

Warthur Showcasing a substantial musical growth from their debut, Stoosh finds Skunk Anansie diversifying their sound a little more - as well as slipping in a few interludes inspired by electronic ambient and dance music, the songs themselves are a bit more varied, with the band unafraid to throw in a transparently sing-along bit here and there (such as the surprisingly catchy refrain of "you're still a fucker" in Glorious Pop Song), and a quiet acoustic piece in the form of the haunting Pickin' On Me.

Lyrically speaking, this time around Skin seems to be taking things in a more personal direction, though opening song Yes It's Fucking Political reminds listeners that "everything's political" and we should interpret the songs in that light and ask ourselves how the personal experiences Skin sings about might be manifestations of more widespread social ills. However, don't think at Anansie have forgotten to rock out; in fact, they occasionally make the intriguing choice to go aggressive on a more emotional, personal song and go more emotive and tug at the heartstrings with a political song - compare, for instance, the rapid-fire recriminations of Twisted (Everyday Hurts) and compare it to the political ballad of We Love Your Apathy, which is cast as a sort of love song from the establishment to public ignorance of social issues.

Though I had heard and enjoyed Weak, the standout single from the debut album, several times, it was this album which was my introduction to Skunk Anansie, and in retrospect I think I made the right call because it's one of their absolute best.

Warthur London-based Skunk Anansie's debut album presents an accessible sort of alternative rock-influenced metal that managed to become an unlikely hit on the pop charts in the midst of Britpop.

The band's major asset is frontwoman Skin, whose angry diatribes against racism, sexism, homophobia and elitism struck a chord with many listeners. Skin makes no apologies for being angry - as pointed out on And Here I Stand, she's got plenty of reasons to be - and her lyrical attack takes no prisoners and certainly is not designed to sooth the consciences of white liberal listeners. (See, for example, the track Intellectualise My Blackness, which firmly takes aim at privileged white men who talk up how hiply feminist and anti-racist they are but demonstrate otherwise by their behaviour.) At the same time, she isn't a one-note vocalist either; It Takes Blood And Guts To Be This Cool But I'm Still Just a Cliche reveals a self-deprecating sense of humour, whilst songs such as I Can Dream and Weak manage to shine a light into her emotional inner world without compromising the image of uncompromising strength she cultivates.

The second secret weapon in the band's arsenal is bassist Cass, who far from being content to simply strum a standard alt-rock rhythm uses his bass like a soloing instrument in order to add a subtle twist to the music, reminiscent of a somewhat more varied take on Tim Commerford's bass playing in Rage Against the Machine, whilst guitarist Ace and drummer Robbie France (who would leave the album after the recording of this album so suddenly that he doesn't even appear on the cover art) play in a more or less unsurprising and at points slightly pedestrian style. On balance, the combination of the unique bass playing and Skin's highly individual style as a frontwoman earns this one an extra star; I don't think it'd stand up as a metal classic, or more generally as a rock classic, but it's a fun album which showcases a rather different take on what alt-metal could be.