The Flaming Lips, 'Peace Sword'

Psychedelic rockers the Flaming Lips are no strangers to film.

In the past they’ve contributed tracks to “Spider-Man 3,” “The SpongeBob SquarePants Movie” and “Good Luck Chuck.”

“Peace Sword,” the group’s latest EP, arrives a mere six months after its last LP, the fittingly titled “The Terror.”

The six-track concept album draws inspiration from the upcoming “Ender’s Game” film.

Despite the relatively short period between releases, the latest Lips outing finds the group pushing its brand of industrial psych noise rock to new limits.

That doesn’t mean it doesn’t look back.

Listeners familiar with The Flaming Lips’ back catalogue will hear traces of “The Soft Bulletin”-era synth orchestras.

“Is the Black at the End Good,” a classic Flaming Lips ballad, recalls the piano-driven “You Have to Be Joking” from the group’s 1992 major label debut, “Hit to Death in the Future Head.”

The oddly titled “Wolf Children,” in all its Berlin trilogy-era David Bowie glory, is the EP’s oddest track.

The electronic squelches and krautrock-inspired drum grooves, while interesting, fail to coalesce into a compelling song, and the ending, in which all of the bizarre instrumentation pulls back to reveal a surprisingly simple and beautiful melody, proves downright frustrating.

Closer “Assassin Beetle — The Dream Is Ending” is a 10-minute mass of swirling synths and buzz saw electronics.

The effect is equal parts beautiful and ominous — a testament to the greatness of the EP.

“Peace Sword” shows the Flaming Lips driving ever forward with its current industrial/noise rock sound while looking back toward the orchestral pop elements that made “The Soft Bulletin” and “Yoshimi Battles the Pink Robots” such alternative rock classics.

By welding its current brand of scorched psychedelic noise to the warped synth flourishes of the early 2000s, the Flaming Lips prove with “Peace Sword” that the band is sharper than ever.