Radiohead's longest and angriest record arrived as Bush-era paranoia metastasised into everyday life, its title a protest slogan that doubled as warning. The band reconciled their electronic detours with guitar rock urgency, resulting in jagged anthems like 2 + 2 = 5 and the stuttering menace of Myxomatosis.

Where Kid A felt hermetically sealed, Hail to the Thief sweats with claustrophobia and surveillance dread. Thom Yorke's lyrics splice Orwell with election theft conspiracies, whilst Nigel Godrich's production keeps everything deliberately unsettled, refusing the listener any comfort in a world gone rotten.