WHENEVER a band announces a “significant step forward”, it’s time to get nervous. Such a tag may sit well with Revolver or Sgt Pepper, but nowadays it usually means a guitar band has added a piano.

In This Light And On This Evening is Editors’ attempt to “push their sound into wholly new territory”. For lead singer Tom Smith, this is electronics.

Given that Editors have been unfairly branded with Joy Division and New Order comparisons, the addition of whirrs and hums could be dangerous.

The new sound is evident from the opening title track, which begins with a synthetic drone underpinned by Smith’s one-tone deep vocal. Admittedly, it could have come straight from Unknown Pleasures, but from here Editors’ unmistakable sound fuses with this electronic fuzz to create a stunning third record.

Much of Smith’s success has been built from developing a crescendo in a verse into an anthemic chorus, and this tactic is in abundance on Bricks And Mortar, single Papillon and Like Treasure, the record’s highlight.

Produced by Flood, the man behind U2 and Smashing Pumpkins, it retains the dark mood which pervaded The Back Room and An End Has A Start.

Filthy cities, drunken violence and broken love songs are occasionally punctured by fragments of bright light, which just makes this all the more brilliant.

• Editors play Leeds Academy tomorrow and Sheffield Academy on October 22.