The Strokes - 'Angles' Album Review

It is inevitable that The Strokes' latest offering, Angles, will be picked apart by critics and fans alike who can't accept that the band's sound has evolved since Is This It. Which is a shame because Angles is a fantastic record.
Repeat listens reveal a band confident to branch out and explore new musical styles, unsatisfied to live in the past and rest on their laurels.

The album opens brilliantly with Machu Picchu, a groove-ridden track with a criminally lazy-cool chorus which you're guaranteed to be singing for some time to come. “We're putting your patience to the test” Julian Casablancas almost winks at his listeners, tempting and teasing negativity, but few can deny that Machu Picchu is not The Strokes at their experimental best.

Next comes Undercover of Darkness, which storms into being with an eardrum-popping guitar duel between Nick Valensi and Albert Hammond Jr. Verses of fuzzy guitar lines and Julian's pleading vocal delivery meet over racing drums. Despite its upbeat tempo, Undercover of Darkness hides a melancholic sadness and vulnerability which is hard to ignore.

Two Kinds of Happiness, with its 80s sounding merger of synths, cheeky guitar licks and throbbing bass, features an unexpected tempo change for its chorus which is followed by a stinging guitar assault. Certainly one of the album's finest tracks and possibly the best example of what the band are trying to achieve with Angles.

Taken For a Fool finds Nikolai Fraiture's bassline complimenting Julian's vocal melody as synths stab away aggressively, as if trying to pop the song like a balloon. The track's chorus is classic Strokes, reminiscent of the material on Room on Fire. Taken For a Fool leads into Games, arguably the album's most experimental track. Machine-like drums and whooping synthesisers give the song a dancey air and provide the canvas for Julian's unsettling repetition of the line: “living in an empty world.”

Gratisfaction deserves to be a single. This is The Strokes at their pop song-writing best. Addictive and unadulterated in its homage to 70s glam-rock, beer-blurry chords and jangling tambourine lead into a hearty chorus custom-built to be sung on the way home from a late night of heavy drinking.

The album closes with the epic, brilliant Life Is Simple In The Moonlight. Gentle guitar picking accompanies Casablancas as he wearily croons: “I didn't want to tell you I was jealous, what's the point?” before the song bursts into life with surely the best chorus on Angles. Truly a spectacular closing track.

If you're apprehensive to seek out Angles then don't be. This is an album which rewards repeat listens and which will reaffirm your love for The Strokes, the band who arguably kick-started the guitar band renaissance in the early noughties.

8/10