HITCHHIKING TO BYZANTIUM

I really enjoyed the previous two Anubis albums, and whilst I respect them for evolving their sound rather than treading water I found this latest effort, Hitchhiking to Byzantium, doesn't quite work for me. It naturally feels slightly less cohesive than its predecessors, because unlike them it isn't a concept album, but it goes further than that - Robert James Moulding's lead vocals bug me here in a way which somehow they didn't on the previous albums, and their musical influences have shifted from the likes of Muse and IQ to a blend which reminds me more of Keane and Pink Floyd (or rather, the castrated modern approximations of Pink Floyd lots of bands try to offer up). Decently performed and some will probably love this, but it isn't quite for me.