The Yeah Yeah Yeahs warned of a new direction prior to the release of their third album It’s Blitz!, but fans of their previous offerings ‘Show Your Bones’ and ‘Fever To Tell’ will find the beastly heart of the YYY’s still very much alive and thumping.

Whilst remaining slaves to the post-punk beat that brought them such a cult following, disco blood now courses through their veins and the new album is injected with a healthy dose of new wave. It’s Blitz! grabs hold of you right from the start, writhes about with kamikaze abandon, then chews you up and spits you out forty minutes later feeling slightly abused but certain that you loved every second.

Opening track and first single ‘Zero’ opens with a thick bassline that buzzes and builds into a party anthem filled with a booming synth line and Karen O’s loud and passionate vocals. Already inspiring remixes from Erol Alkan and MSTRKRFT, it looks set to dominate dancefloors for some time to come…that is, until track 2 arrives. ‘Heads Will Roll’ is as intense and violent as its name and so catchy it will be spinning around your head for days. Spacey synths permeate the opening as vivacious singer Karen O shrieks like a petulant, albeit twisted, child; "Off with your head! Dance til you’re dead!" before launching into ecstatic cries of "Oh!" as the drums kick in and guitars squeal.

The album then departs into a more slow, brooding direction, lacking the adrenaline and impatience of the opening tracks but still glorious in its own way. All jangly and stripped down tracks like ‘Soft Shock’ and ‘Skeletons’ allow for the jewel in the YYY’s crown to shine through, charismatic, sparkling vocals.

One cannot ignore the tumescent presence of feisty, feline frontwoman Karen O in the Yeah Yeah Yeahs, usually found draped over an amp stack at gigs and festivals and championing a stumbled-face-first-into-the-fancy-dress-closet look she is synonymous with fashion, femininity and exuberance. This is not style over substance however as It’s Blitz! demonstrates, beneath her wild exterior lies a voice capable of shrieking like a banshee, soaring at all different levels and even performing breathy, melancholy numbers to suit the mood.

Other highlights of the album include the haunting ‘Runaway’ and shimmering disco number ‘Dragon Queen’ that glistens with its infectious dance fever. A couple of the tracks do not quite meet up to the high standard of the rest and songs like the aptly-titled ‘Dull Life’ seem superfluous next to such outstanding examples of songwriting, the less brilliant moments are by no means atrocious however and the album still definitely works as a cohesive, exciting and masterful piece of work.

There are usually just one or two albums every year that encapsulate the summer mood and become the soundtrack to the sunny months; blaring from ipod speakers in gardens and on beaches across the country. In 2008 MGMT stepped up with the critically-acclaimed Oracular Spectacular and given the YYY’s similarly original, up-tempo and feel good vibe, is it possible that 2009 could belong to them? Yeah yeah yeah.