20 Best Metal Albums Of 2017 (So Far)

The third album by post-modern Dutch rockers GOLD, Optimist's title must be an exercise in the most biting irony, as from start to finish it is a truly dark, downbeat record.

Intelligent and unpredictable, it fuses elements of melodic rock, doom, alternative and post-rock into a melancholic journey, driven by slow bass and drums and deep, strummed guitar chords.

Tracks like opener "You Too Must Die" and the Shining-inspired "Teenage Lust" build gracefully to a dark cacophony while cuts such as "I Do My Own Stunts" craft a more energetic pace, while being kept in an enigmatically dark place by the sensual vocals of frontwoman Milena Eva.

If you're after rock n' roll that is disturbing in a more psychological sense as opposed to the visceral, Optimist should (ironically) be where you cast your attention.