Worship

Arriving just months after A Place to Bury Strangers' tantalizing EP Onwards to the Wall, the band's third album, Worship, shows that they're sleeker, darker, and spikier-sounding than ever. The self-produced set reveals the band's vision of what music should sound like in 2012, and while songs such as "You Are the One" hark back to Suicide's glowering electro-punk and Bauhaus' shadowy ferocity, there's a minimalism here that feels distinctly fresh -- not to mention a unique sexuality amidst its whooshing guitars and deadpan vocals. Hypnotic and forward-looking, A Place to Bury Strangers sound more vital than ever on Worship.