I love Whatever People Say and think Favourite Worst Nightmare was even better and that the pair really defined and exemplified a particular sound and period of British Music and will be remembered as classics.
Humbug feels like a third album by a totally different band. Lyrically and in vocal delivery, Turner has, not to put too finer point on it, disappeared up his own arse. It all sounds a lot cleverer than it is. The fantastic imagery, turn of phrase and storytelling has, for the most part, been replaced by the sixth form style poetry heard on The Last Shadow Puppets side project (where it worked well with the music).
Most of the songs are huge clashes of rythm and melody; the drums often feeling like a caricature of the fantastic beats on FWN. This is an album intentionally devoid of hooks and therefore takes some listens to get used to.
It's not awful, but its by no means great. It's okay. The vast majority of Arctic Monkeys fans will be disappointed and the sad thing is, there's a lot of people out there who could love the album but wont give it a listen because 'it's that band who got famous through myspace'.
It's not a step forward or backward, it's a step sideways into the shoes of the band they want to be but, for me, it's not a great listen.
Best Track: Cornerstone
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