Suck it and See

No, really.

It's the new album by the Arctic Monkeys. It came out on June 6th, so I figured it was about time I reviewed it.

First, the album cover. Many people hate it, but for some reason, I'm drawn to it. Simple, clean, just the words "suck it and see". Genius. Pure genius. I mean it. Normally, I would be like "that's a horrible cover", but with a phrase as provocative and raunchy as "suck it and see", I understand why they would let it be. It stands out and gets the point across. On a slightly humorous note, apparently here in the US, in some stores a sticker was placed on the phrase because they found it inappropriate and disrespectful. I guess that just makes it a blank creme colored album cover then...

Now to the album. As a whole, I think it's not as "indie" as the Arctic Monkeys started out. It seems more rock inclined than indie. Actually, it's not really mainstream rock either, it's reminiscent of old indie rock - you know, with the airy melodies and loose pot smoking, lazy day feel. In a weird way, this album sort of reminds me of The Beatles...I can't really explain why, but it just does. Especially the song "Piledriver Waltz". The album isn't as aggressive as they usually are and the songs have much slower tempos than usual too. Super mellow. I must applaud the Arctic Monkeys though for developing a fuller, more mature sound. The first track, "She's Thunderstorms" kind of reminds me of the Green Day song "Give Me Novocaine" for some reason....weird. Actually, the entire album kind of makes me think of "Give Me Novocaine". I also must note that Alex Turner sounds dramatically different on the album as a whole, most prominently, not as British as usual and not snarling as much - he seems to have really now developed a singing style and to be honest, I don't really know if I like it better than what he does on the previous albums. For some reason, I don't really like most of the singles from this album. To me, "Brick by Brick", "The Hellcat Spangled Shalala", and "Don't Sit Down 'Cause I've Moved Your Chair", the singles, all sound sort of mediocre - nothing really special about them. Songs that stood out to me include "Black Treacle" which has a sick chorus and is incredibly catchy and "Reckless Serenade". I'm not really in love with this album...unfortunately I'm not really sold on the whole mellow, chill approach. Eh. I'm actually sort of disappointed with it. I genuinely wanted to like this album, but I just can't bring myself to. I think it's lost some of the sparkle that the Arctic Monkeys used to have. It's not really edgy and fresh like the music they used to make. All the songs kind of sound the same and blend together...It doesn't really pack the punch that their music used to.

I'm kind of sad. I used to really like the Arctic Monkeys and their super catchy and sharp songs like "Fake Tales of San Francisco", but now I'm not sure. I like the old Arctic Monkeys? I don't know, I'll keep listening, just not to the new album.