Kevin Bronson on January 7th, 2011

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As welcome as British Sea Power’s “Zeus” EP was back in October, it hardly foreshadowed the transcendent ruckus that is the British sextet’s fourth album, “Valhalla Dancehall” (out Tuesday on Rough Trade). In short, it’s the first great album of 2011. The band galloped out of Brighton early last decade as if it had marching orders from some higher musical power, its relentless anthems filled with sparkling imagery, stories ripped from the pages of history and pure whimsy. On “Valhalla,” the energy is unabated; at turns electronic, symphonic and euphoric, British Sea Power has somehow arrived at a new (nu-?) glam rock where, I imagine, glitter has been replaced by eyeblack and elbow grease.

||| Download: “Who’s In Control?” [audio:http://promo.roughtraderecords.com/britishseapower/whosincontrol.mp3]

||| Stream: The entire album at the Onion’s AV Club.

Photo by Dan Dennison