Humbug review: Subtle improvements

Clearly tired of the Sheffield-infused rock of their first two records, in 2009 the Arctic Monkeys decamped to Los Angeles and recruited Queens of the Stone Age legend Josh Homme as producer to record their third album, Humbug. An obvious departure from their earlier work, the record was met with mixed acclaim on its release, but five years on Humbug can be regarded as one of the band's finest moments; musically richer and lyrically more intelligent than either of their previous efforts.

For Humbug, the Monkeys ditched the infectious choruses and pop-esque hooks which dominated both Whatever People Say... and Favourite Worst Nightmare; There's no shout of "well I bet that you look good on the dancefloor", no "see you later innovator" or "Dorothy was right though", in fact the only thing that comes close is the melancholy wail of "your past times consisted of the strange, twisted and deranged" on lead single Crying Lightning. Similarly, the music is less catchy, often rapidly changing time signature to produce an almost disconcerting sound-certainly not hits built for the arena tours which came with the band's newfound fame. It's not necessarily a bad thing however, as despite being less catchy many of Humbug's tracks are simply better than those which preceded them. Equipped with a more impressive range of musical techniques and influences brought on by both Homme's wide experience and the Monkey's past songwriting efforts, songs like Secret Door merge Homme's slower, more considered style with the Monkey's traditionally louder and more violent elements to become more expressive and intelligent than their individual parts. It's not without its occasional dud, but by and large this coming together of two very different musical parties is exceptionally effective. It's not a total departure either; the distorted riffs are still very much alive, and the organ used on Pretty Visitors is an almost direct homage to the Favourite Worst Nightmare classic 505.

And with this new musical breadth and depth, it's unsurprising that frontman Alex Turner's lyrics were forced to adapt too. Abandoning the homespun observation of Whatever People Say and the more generic wordplay of Favourite Worst Nightmare resulted in some of the band's most poetic efforts to date, from Secret Door's "fools on parade cavort and carry on for waiting eyes" to Pretty Visitor's John Cooper Clarke inspired "what came first, the chicken or this dickhead"? The finest moment comes in the form of Cornerstone however, a haunting ballad dark in its story of tragically lost love and a victim totally unable to move on. Despite the more advanced musicianship and lyricism, its fair to say that there are less classic songs on Humbug than either of the previous albums, the tracks simply compliment each other to create an album that feels complete; Secret Door, Dance Little Liar and Cornerstone are possible to only songs which can be considered on par with the Monkey's finest.

Although its short on truly brilliant songs, Humbug's ten tracks fit together beautifully to create a record that is a subtle advancement on both the band's previous albums, it's a powerful but underappreciated third effort.

8/10