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If it’s possible for music to be self-assured, that’s what could be said of Savages’ new album, Adore Life. The same is unquestionably true of the band itself, particularly their outspoken frontwoman Jehnny Beth. Savages don’t shy away from anything, something they proved with their last album, 2013’s Silence Yourself. In Adore, Beth asserts the unapologetic pursuit of gratification, singing: “If only I didn’t want the world/I wouldn’t make you feel so sad.” She also poses the question, “Is it human to adore life?” in a way that makes one believe she really isn’t sure.

Savages tackle the themes of love and emotional honesty in their music in a way that’s both beautiful and cathartic. Fuzzy, melodic guitars and heavy bass nod at the music of late last century, sometimes a little too enthusiastically; if there’s one fault with Adore Life, it’s that it sonically rehashes the past to the point that it may be less progressive than derivative, amalgamating vocals reminiscent of Siouxsie Sioux with the manic energy of The Stooges.

One standout track is the opening song The Answer, which delivers everything one might expect of the band, a visceral, paradoxical punch-up of a song in which Beth claims, “If you don’t love me, you don’t love anybody,” before aggressively driving home the message, “love is the answer.” The album also impresses with Mechanics, which is carried on little waves of overtones and sounds like the soundtrack to something in between a daydream and a nightmare.

Adore Life is a gripping effort on the whole, less frenzied than Savages’ previous work but just as deeply felt. In a sense, their ideas and delivery feel, at times, dogmatic but not oppressive. What we’re left with is half explosive expression and half philosophical exploration of emotion and subjective morality.