Arctic Monkeys

The speed with which the Arctic Monkeys were heralded as being the saviours of British music meant two things. One: they obviously couldn't live up to the hype, although they did for a while. And two: that there was an inevitable backlash coming, which came to a head with the release of their third album, Humbug, which saw the band recording in the States with Queens of the Stone Age's Josh Homme. Suck It and See is the sound of a band in transition. This makes for a slightly schizophrenic affair where the clumsiness of Humbug stands side by side with the more melodic pop of the earlier albums. Their trademark franticness rears its head from time to time, and Alex Turner's turn of phrase is as entertaining as ever, but the band are rather confused about what they want to be. It isn't their least satisfying album, but with as many lows ("Brick By Brick") as highs ("The Hellcat Spangled Shalala"), it isn't the return to form that the Arctic Monkeys needed. Considering that the best songs are closer in spirit to the Last Shadow Puppets (Turner's side-project), maybe he needs to quit his full-time job and concentrate on his hobby for a while.