Arctics critics' verdicts

Hear what the experts think of the latest from one of Sheffield's finest

24 August 2009 - We got the lowdown on Arctic Monkeys' third album, Humbug, from 6 Music presenter Steve Lamacq, The Sun's showbiz writer Gordon Smart and Paul Stokes, news editor at the NME.

One thinks the band have lost their touch, another sees it as a brave and interesting move forward and for another, it was a grower.

Find out who thought what by clicking on the listen link above.

Elsewhere, the album has received varying reviews, with more critics for than against their latest direction.

BBC, Mike Diver

"If there's one fact to be presented through all this subjectivity, it's that Arctic Monkeys have grown up: here, they incorporate elements of rock'n' roll past to fuel a very modern affair, and that it manages to sound completely unique is testament indeed to Turner and company's cultivated creative nous." (Read the review)

The Guardian, Alexis Petridis ****

"With a confidence that suggests that if their days at the eye of the storm are behind them, Arctic Monkeys' best might be yet to come."

Rolling Stone, ****

"There's more bottom-end crunch, with a lot of haunted-house organ and Bond-flick guitar twang. The tempos are slower; Pretty Visitors is the one track with the old full-speed-ahead punk charge. But the big difference is that Turner's voice has deepened - now he flexes the ironic lounge-lizard croon that's been the moneymaker for generations of Northern English wiseguys from Bryan Ferry to Morrissey to Jarvis Cocker."

Clash Magazine, 8/10

"The heroic vision of the Monkeys has culminated in a brooding and dauntingly dark album, which is, from start to finish, their strongest and most accomplished work to date. Perhaps the endless vista of the desert did infiltrate their imaginations, or perhaps they were always destined for greatness. Either way, Humbug is a triumph of courage and impudence, and one giant step forward for this country's most impressive youngsters."

Spin Magazine

"Homme is a man, and QOTSA are a desert band, while the boyish Monkeys are pasty and pimply, prone to the occasional fit of whiny discomfort. So Humbug's leadoff track, the languid come-on My Propeller, is a pleasant surprise. 'Coax me out, my low, and have a spin on my propeller,' Turner moans a little creepily, like a Nick Cave in training."

MOJO, Danny Eccleston

Speaking about the song Cornerstone, he writes: "A cracker, this, as a picaresque tale unfolds. Turner's lost in love, and stalks the pubs, obsessed, his character a beautifully tragic-comic distillation of charmingly lovelorn and disturbingly predacious and it's too good a story to spoil the ending."

Uncut, John Mulvey

"The first thing to say about Humbug, perhaps, is that it takes a while to bed in. As those who've heard Crying Lightning a few times now will testify, these are earworms, insidious songs which aren't as immediate as, say, Fluorescent Adolescent.."
 
Read the reviews in full at the Arctic Monkeys' forum.

What's your verdict on Humbug? Post your comments to 6 Music News below.

Adrian Larkin / Georgie Rogers / Rodrigo Davies