SOME used to claim that punk will never die. Frank Carter And The Rattlesnakes may not have killed it off, but, at least in the sense of their own work, they’ve decided to let it have a spot of recuperation.

Mayhem mostly gives way to melody on the second album from the erstwhile purveyors of Hertfordshire-based hardcore, which will probably lead to accusations of them sacrificing their roots for radio play.

Fact is, though, donning alt-rock clothes is a good look on them. Former Gallows vocalist Carter and company haven’t entirely put their penchant for making a racket aside, but Modern Ruin’s title track is the only thing you’ll find here that comes close to the unstrung explosiveness of their 2015 debut outing Blossoms.

Elsewhere, their swagger and knack for a crunching riff is more focused, channeled into angsty tunes that somehow seem to combine elements of Queens Of The Stone Age, Soundgarden and Arctic Monkeys without suffering a shuddering identity crisis.

What’s most evident is that Carter and his band are now giving their music more room to breathe, with the exception of the rampant 56-second Jackals, even if it does pack more into those 56 seconds than it has a right to. The sound of a band seemingly discovering who they are and who they want to be shines through on Bluebelle, Lullaby, and the thoughtful-to-thunderous closing track Neon Rust; the best definitely being left to last.

Slightly piecemeal, sometimes faltering, and victim to the scourge of the mid-album slump in quality of ideas, Modern Ruin is still more stepping-stone than platform. But if Blossoms proved Frank Carter and his colleagues can make a decent noise, this album shows they’re rapidly finding out what they can do with it.

Frank Carter And The Rattlesnakes play Leeds Stylus on March 24.