Kingdom Of Doom is, if nothing else, a very apt title. A sense of dread hangs over the record, as Albarn wistfully describes a city whose inhabitants "drink all day, because the country's at war". The tone's mournful and regretful, and even the upbeat piano chords and furiously strummed acoustic guitar can't lighten the atmosphere. There's a nod to Albarn's past, in that it sounds a bit similar to Blur's Kinks-worshipping Modern Life Is Rubbish era, but this is far less catchy.

Yet Herculean had no discernible hook either, and that didn't stop it being a magnificently moody experience. Kingdom Of Doom is the same, and while fans may be best advised to wait to sample the album in all its entirety (it makes much more sense over the course of an hour, rather than little bite-sized sections), this is more than enough to sate the palate of those whose excitement levels are just too high.

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end of year feature musicOMH's 50 Best Albums Of 2009 From the nearly 700 albums we reviewed this year, which did our writers love the most? Introduction 50-41 | 40-31 | 30-21 20-11 | 10-4 | 1-3