Brian Fallon has been writing songs about heartbreak all his life. So what makes this collection different? The clues are in the lyrics. Gone are the yearning odes to ÔÇÿMaria,’ who one suspects was an amalgamation of teenage romances, and thereÔÇÖs scarcely a proper noun in sight. Having just come through a gruelling divorce from his wife of ten years, FallonÔÇÖs wounds are raw and fresh ÔÇ£I have pills for this, and tabs for that and something that used to resemble a soulÔÇØ.

Sonically, this is the bandÔÇÖs most evolved record yet. Producer Mike Crossey (Arctic Monkeys and The 1975) takes their sound to new places; a grungey thrash on opener ÔÇÿStay ViciousÔÇÖ and later guitars chime like the blink of a radar screen on ÔÇÿGet HurtÔÇÖ. The songwriting itself has more in common with FallonÔÇÖs overlooked Horrible Crowes side-project, with a dark blues creeping into the chugging rock backbone honed on 2012ÔÇÖs ÔÇÿHandwrittenÔÇÖ.

ÔÇÿGet HurtÔÇÖ is not an album written to sell millions; the band have said this was an itch they needed to scratch, never more evident than in the catharsis of the lyrics. On ÔÇÿUnderneath the Ground,ÔÇÖ Fallon fantasises about his own death in harrowing detail, ÔÇ£Would you spit and hiss and curse my name, and embarrass me to the other graves?ÔÇØ Fair-weather fans may lose interest around the 40 minute mark, but thereÔÇÖs a great sense of reward to be found as the band burst through the other side on the euphoric closer ÔÇÿDark PlacesÔÇÖ.

In pulling away from constant and irksome comparisons to their earliest influences, The Gaslight Anthem have created a biting album that lays bare the reality of the dissolution of a long term relationship in chilling detail. It wonÔÇÖt be getting any spins by Fearne Cotton on Radio 1, but in the darkest nights these songs could well save a soul or two.