The Last Dinner Party are about to enter their Wicker Man era. Having whipped up an irresistible mix of Kate Bush and Queen with their debut album, Prelude to Ecstasy, the chart-topping London indie band have now delivered a follow-up, From the Pyre, that channels the uneasy spirit of the classic 1973 folk-horror movie about crazed locals and violent sacrifice. Haunting times, they say, call for haunting music.

“It makes so much sense that folk horror has come back now,” says Abigail Morris, the band’s singer. The UK “is unbelievably f***ed. And there’s no way to look at it other than that there must be malicious paranormal forces coming from the trees.”

The Wicker Man concludes in an orgy of fire and retribution instigated by suspicious natives who believe their homeland should remain ethically and spiritually homogenous. As they look around at an England fighting a running battle with racism, prejudice and the scapegoating of migrants, The Last Dinner Party think the parallels are all too obvious.

This explains the thread of menace running through their new LP – an uncanny quality that begins with cover art featuring such folk-horror tropes as robed figures larking around a bonfire and Morris dressed like a homicidal druid and cradling a lamb.

The theme continues with the lyrics: 30 seconds into the album’s baroque opening track, Agnus Dei, Morris is watching the world go up in flames. “Oh, here comes the apocalypse, and I can’t get enough of it,” she howls.

“You’re looking for a reason why everything’s falling apart,” she says with a sigh. “And it’s, like, ‘Oh, it’s because we must sacrifice someone to The Wicker Man.’” In other words, when the blame game begins, it’s those without a voice who are inevitably offered up to the gods.