Sorry for the copout, but yes and no. Let's start with the cover: it's their most colorful and organic to date (do I see yellow and purple over there?), but oddly enough, the music seems more industrial and harsh than usual, perhaps as a result of the production help from Alessandro Cortini, who has helped out Nine Inch Nails in the past. Opener "Black Cat" indulges in over two minutes of Front 242-style drums and dramatic synths before getting to the vocals, which turn out to be in Bulgarian. Seriously. My Russian skills let me catch phrases here and there: did they just sing about a murdered secretary? I know, this sounds like a parody of a Ladytron song, but while it's not exactly "catchy," it's strangely appealing.

Thankfully, there are more accessible moments, like the swing tempo "Ghosts" ("There's a ghost in me/who wants to say 'I'm sorry'") and the oddly Raveonettes-reminscent "Runaway." Unfortunately, six of the album's 13 tracks that have the stomping, "boom-boom-chick" beat, and while some of them, like "Burning Up," are hypnotic and intense, the style feels like Ladytron Default Mode, and "They Gave You A Heart, They Gave You A Name" is an awkward misfire. Even the admirable attempt at what seems like a ballad sung to a computer ("Deep Blue/I wanna give it all to you") doesn't take off.

While the rock intensity on Velocifero is an interesting, and admirable, development for Ladytron, the songwriting seems a little aimless, and there are some good songs, but nothing as transcendent as any of the three earlier singles I mentioned above. Perhaps the Tron's more goth-industrial fans will appreciate the harder edges without worrying too much about whether they'll remember the songs in the morning. But to me, Velocifero seems more like a step to the left than a step forward, and really, they could have set their sights much higher.

Velocifero is out June 3 on Nettwerk. The whole album is streaming at their MySpace page here.

Video for "Ghosts":