Tranquility Base Hotel & Casino: Arctic Monkeys- Review

I'm not a complete fan of the Arctic Monkeys, but I do like what they bring to the table. Their stylistic changes from the time of formation to present have been quite exceptional, a little less drastic than say now but very clear as to what artists might be on their list of inspiration. From a Brit-pop to punk sound, through to the subtle Rockabilly roots.

I am guilty of enjoying a few of their songs, particularly from the album 'Whatever People Say I Am, That's What I'm Not' and yes, some from AM too. However, I can't say that I'm too overly pleased with their latest release 'Tranquility Base Hotel and Casino.'

Fans of AM will most definitely have the shock of their life. Despite what has been said, this is no follow up to AM at all. It is something entirely new with a different sound. The large number of fans Arctic Monkeys acquired from their breakthrough album (in which has made me feel that they should no longer be labelled as Indie by genre) will surely dissipate. This is not an album for people who were and are only solely attracted to Arctic Monkeys for the sound they provided on AM.

Tranquility Base Hotel and Casino, in my opinion, offered nothing more than a scattered percussion with untimely lyrics. This seemed to block the possibility of having an easy-flowing song and made it seem more of a general cluster. This occurred on multiple tracks and ended up just making me feel stressed and bored. Consider this: an auctioneer is occupied by jazz-styled lounge music as he bargains the mental portrait of Alex Turner in his underpants for a few quid. And there you have it. Or at least the accompanying lyrics for One Point Perspective is all you have here.

I'm not sure what I was expecting from this album. definitely not something that would make me feel so completely blasé. Having influences from different time periods is okay and using them to create a solid piece of work is obviously the intention, however I just wasn't thrilled by this release. Can the Arctic Monkeys come back from this? I'm sure they can, but perhaps in a less rushed manner. I don't know about everyone else, but I personally am not keen on scrambled. Only my eggs. Not music.