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The Arctic Monkeys have been known to jump from genre to genre on each album. AM is certainly no exception. While their sound may not be consistent from one album to the next, AM,  the fifth LP from the band, is just as consistent in quality. In fact, this might be their best recording since their breakout LP, Whatever People Say I Am, That’s What I’m Not.

“Do I Wanna Know?,” the leadoff track and only single thus far, starts the album off positively with a strong, steady beat, determined guitar, and is carried by Alex Turner’s vocals.

It also sounds very much like a Queens of the Stone Age track. In fact, much of the album sounds like a Queens of the Stone Age album. Perhaps the band is just dabbling in that style for this particular moment in time. It doesn’t matter, because they pull it off. And the singer has an accent. That makes it totally different, right?

Regardless, it’s hard not to just repeat this song over and over again instead of continuing on with the remaining tunes.

[youtube id=”http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bpOSxM0rNPM” width=”600″ height=”350″]

The next track, “R U Mine?,” continues with the driving rock sound, once again akin to Queens of the Stone Age, and bridges the single into the rest of the album quite seamlessly.

The rest of the album plucks along at a similar pace, though they do throw two slower songs, “No.1 Party Anthem” and “Mad Sounds” in the middle of the album.

They slowly pick the tempo back up before “Snap Out of It,” which will probably be the background music to a commercial in the near future. Not that it’s a bad thing; it’s a good song. It’s just going to happen.

The Arctic Monkeys end their fantastic album with the dreamy “I Wanna Be Yours,” letting you slip away into the nearest abyss. If there isn’t one nearby, just go to sleep. It’s what they would have wanted.

AM is a great album. It’s probably their best album yet, which is really saying something.