Well-meaning, overly earnest, slightly insecure - Placebo in 2013 is very much the same Placebo that was an alt-rock mainstay back in the late '90s.
Loud Like Love proves that androgynous front man Brian Molko still loves the odd lyrical curiosity too.
"My computer thinks I'm gay," he whines on the feisty chest-thumper Too Many Friends - although whether his internet-bashing anger is over cyber bullying or bad Googling technique isn't quite clear.
As that hiccup suggests, much of the British trio's seventh album is a little confused: The sluggish rumble of Scene of the Crime attempts lift off but never quite succeeds, Bosco is a meaningful but mopey ballad with dodgy lyrics, and rowdy rocker Rob the Bank includes the chorus: "Rob the bank . . . make love".
What? It would be easy to write Placebo off but they're still capable of raw anthemic power: Purify is a heckles-raised rocker in the style of their 1998 hit Pure Morning, the title track has a synth-fuelled hook Passion Pit would be proud of, and there is pure longing behind Exit Wounds as Molko moans, "Want you so bad I can taste it".
