Album Review: Arctic Monkeys Humbug

That this album features lyrics as impenetrable as ‘I was biting the time zone and we embellished the banks of our bloodstreams' is testament to just how far this Sheffield four piece have come since 'Whatever People Say I Am'. The kitchen sink realism of said debut is understandably long gone and Turner seems to have decided it is time to paint on a far larger canvas with a palette of much darker oils.
No more slot machines, kids fighting with pool queues or even ageing women that used to get it in their fishnets then, but the bands attempts to simultaneously 'grow up' whilst preserving the unique wit that garnered such hype in the first seem largely to fall short- from the Carry-on style innuendo of ‘my Propeller won’t spin and I can’t get it started on my own’ to the Facebook-status friendly ’what came first the chicken or the dickhead?’-it just all feels a little forced.
Musically, there is no doubt they are trying something very, very different here- and there are moments where it really works- the brilliant breakdown on 'Potion Approaching' is reminiscent of the Doors, the refrain at the end of ‘The Jeweller’s Hands’ is excellent, the last shout of the chorus on slow-grower ‘Crying Lightning’ is suitably epic. But whilst Turner’s exploits with The Last Shadow Puppet’s revealed melodic 60’s-inspired tracks such as ‘Cornerstone’ come easily to the front man, it is still perhaps the only song on the album that indisputably works. Praise must be due for their re-invention, their inability to rest on their laurels, and the fact that they have now made 2 albums of vast progression. Whether or not they are moving in the right direction is another question. 6/10