Collegiate Times

When the Arctic Monkeys originally burst onto the radar with their first release, "Whatever People Say I Am, That's What I'm Not," many skeptics immediately marked the band as another overrated UK import.

Their opinions were further reinforced with the disappointing 2007 follow-up, "Favourite Worst Nightmare." But after two years of flying low, the band has reappeared with something worthy of the buzz in the form of their latest release, "Humbug." The album features tracks rife with wit, menace and enough overdubbed guitar to warrant pause from their former detractors.

Though the band's approach generally remains the same, the difference with this album comes across in the non-vocal aspects of the music. The voice of frontman Alex Turner is thankfully downplayed in exchange for the collective antics of band members Jamie Cook, Nick O'Malley and Matt Helders. By tuning down the lead vocals and cranking up the rest of the band, the LP has some fresh life breathed into it that the previous records were severely lacking. The six-minute opus "The Jeweller's Hands" has nary a Turner yelp and instead delivers well-implemented backing vocals with a slide guitar that follows the song throughout the slow, rolling rock maelstrom. As far as album closers go, it's a doozy as well as a guaranteed staple track for any Arctic Monkeys fan.

Unfortunately, though the rest of the album is quite good by any standard, it does not replicate the magic featured so exclusively in a single track. Lead single "Crying Lightning" fails to ignite the spark that set the charts on fire like 2006's "I Bet You Look Good on the Dance Floor." Instead, it falls prey to a shout-along chorus that I can't imagine anyone actually wanting to shout along to.

It's the less aggrandizing moments where the band shines, like in the interplay of the airy chorus on "Secret Door, " where the song's aggressive verses highlight the band's strength in musical harmony instead of vocal dissonance. The double whammy in the album's middle section of "The Fire and the Thud" and "Cornerstone" demonstrates a similar winning approach from rock 'n' roll brimstone to understated melancholy (well, as much rock 'n' roll brimstone as you're going to get from the Arctic Monkeys).

For all the negatives of Alex Turner's Brit-apathy vocal delivery, the same problem does not carry over to the man's songwriting abilities. All of the songs on the record feature a biting, sardonic, occasionally heartfelt and wholly delightful wit. There is something of a pleasant wickedness underneath all of the lyrics in "Humbug," and the song "Cornerstone" presents this best: After a tryst with an unknown lover, the speaker "Asked awfully politely, please / Can I call you her name?" Ouch - you know someone out there is still smarting from that one.

Any music fan who hasn't given the Monkeys a listen should do so. The album is definitely a step forward for them. After "Favourite Worst Nightmare," who would've thought that possible?