Cruel Guards is the fourth full-length effort from The Panics, who formed in Perth. Lead track Get Us Home represents well what is to come, as an opening drum thump builds and is joined by various other sections until the song builds into husky vocals over a cacophony that somehow works. While the whole of the album goes for large and grand arrangements, the stripped back lyrics often fall short of profound and some of the album teeters a step away from cliché. However, when the band gets it right, the results will blow you away, such as on Don’t Fight It and title track Cruel Guards, where the lyrics deliver, perfectly paced, a song and chorus worth singing along to. –Megan Smith