Reading’s finest musical export are back with a bang. Questioning everything, throwing out a very different sounding record at an early stage and getting more personal, has produced an absolute beast of a rock album – 21st Century Fiction.

The Amazons were grinding hard on the local Reading music scene for a long time prior to their first album. The way that record exploded certainly took them by surprise, thrusting them into the limelight thanks to major backing from BBC Radio One, amongst others. Two more very decent albums followed, though neither seemed to quite connect in the way the debut did.

They are most definitely a Reading band. They are ardent supporters of the football club and on the weekend just gone turned up ahead of the match to play on the Purple Turtle’s mobile stage, which normally sets up with a small and enthusiastic local band looking for an audience. It is a nice touch, as is that they will be making an appearance at HMV Reading next week as part of the new album launch. They remain a moderate size band. They also still retain a huge amount of potential. So which way will this new album carry them?

Frontman Matthew Thomson has spoken with much honesty about what this new album is all about. It “comes from the frustration of being in that place where my 20s were ending and being really cognisant of that. Self-flagellation; always wondering what’s around the corner, always scolding myself for not matching up to some unattainable ideals of what it means to be a successful band or even just a man. I definitely imagined financial security, having a house. I also wasn’t happy about the composition of myself when I looked in the mirror. I spent thousands of pounds in my 20s on personal trainers, supplements and the idea that I was going to be fitter, stronger and look like the people you’d see on Instagram and in the movies. I thought I’d get closer to the ideal of what a man should be: stoic, doesn’t talk much, sexy, elegant, always knows what to say, has practical skills, and financial fluency. I was thinking about entering my 30s, and I wasn’t amounting to any of that.”

All of this lead to a major reassessment of their direction part-way into initial sessions for the planned fourth album and a rip-it-up and start again approach. Having got a huge range of opinions and input on their previous album, they ultimately decided that this had weakened the final product. The plan was to do something for themselves, something urgent… something that if it ended up being their final album as a band that they could walk away heads held proud. All of this had also been affected by the departure of their founding member, drummer Joe Emmett.

After a gentle first minute, ‘Living A Lie’ gradually begins to build into life, a solid opener. It never quite unleashes, but the rest of the album more than makes up for that. ‘Night After Night’ clearly establishes that we are moving out of indie land and are heading into heavier rock territory. It sounds fantastic, tuneful female backing vocals jut out ahead of thundering guitars. Thomson makes his vocals soar higher as the track progresses .’Panic,’ serves as a short palate cleanser before ‘Pitch Black’ continues to build the driving intensity of the album. “Baby will you miss me if I’m not around.” Absolutely, if you are going to keep writing songs this great! Just when you think it is already going well in comes ‘My Blood’ as the outstanding centrepiece of the album.  This former Reading Indie Life single of the week still sounds suitably huge three months later. I can only describe it as epic in a 1980s hair-metal kind of way.  It has that same brilliance that Europe’s ‘The Final Countdown’ possesses. It makes it feel like amazing things will happen, that you can do anything and be invincible whilst you do it. Royal Blood’s Mike Kerr has helped produce one of THE singles of the year, and his bandmate Ben Thatcher provides the explosive drumming.

‘Wake Me Up’ will do exactly what it says on the tin should you be falling asleep. This has a real groove to it before the big guitar sounds come screaming in. There is a freewheeling guitar solo about halfway through before it breaks down and rebuilds to a thrilling conclusion.

‘Joe Bought A Gun’ and ‘Love Is A Dog From Hell’ switch things up again. ‘Joe Bought a Gun’ is an almost Niverna-esque slab of grungier rock. ‘Love is A Dog From Hell’ has gotten better with every listen. It is a thrilling piece of rollicking rock and roll.

Final track ‘Go All The Way,’ showcases piano and then Thomson starts hitting notes far higher than any he has previously shown evidence of being to hit. It is a great end to a really good album. The Amazons have pushed themselves onwards to better each other and they have been highly successful in achieving this. A number of tracks on this album deserve to be belted out in large size stadium shows, were written for that kind of environment. It is their best record to date and deserves much adoration.