Foals came to prominence as a band due to their ability to walk the fine line between mass appeal and catering to underground crowds. They achieved this balance perfectly on their 2010 release “Total Life Forever,” a dance rock album capable of both introspection and exuberance.

On their newest release, “Holy Fire,” Foals attempt to recreate the success of their previous album, but in their ambitious drive to do so, they end up lacking the focus necessary to craft memorable songs. Instead, Foals seem intent on channeling their blend of eclectic rock into a sound intended for festival stages — a bold move, but without tact or nuance.

On “Holy Fire,” Foals commit to just enough melodicism on each song to hook the listener in, but they often fall into a reliable dance rock formula, with buzzing guitars and synthesizer lines dragging the listener along. The unnecessarily dense and sometimes flat production is saved only by a frantic and pounding percussion section.

The lyrical content echoes the lack of commitment on the band’s part. While Foals have always placed a greater importance on instrumentation than lyrics, too often on “Holy Fire” abstraction is attempted when a more personal narrative would be a better fit. Nowhere is this more apparent than in “Late Night,” when he sings: “I’m the last cowboy in this town/ Empty veins and my plastic, broken crown.”

In the end, there’s nothing offensively wrong with the new Foals album, but there also isn’t anything right, and perhaps that’s a worse fate. (5/10)