Suck It and See

The Arctic Monkeys are survivors: the hype overload circa 2006 (everyone remembers it) would cause a lesser band to implode messily, but they soldiered on, managing to retain their punkish vitality. Again, Turner and the lads have come out with another solid rock album. Song for song, though, it’s definitely their worst: while much of _Suck It and See_ is strong (and leagues above most contemporary British guitar music), it’s hard to shake the nagging feeling that they’ve already done most of this better.

Tense opener ‘She’s Thunderstorms’, while perfectly decent, can’t quite pull off the menacing smirk of ‘My Propeller’, the first track on _Humbug_, where the Arctics tried (surprisingly successfully) to be Queens of the Stone Age. Stylistically, _Suck_ splits the difference between the stoner rock pose of _Humbug_ and the faster, turn-on-a-dime brilliance of their sophomore outing _Favourite Worst Nightmare_ (their best album, now the dust has settled). Something is lost in the process, though – the record plays like an Arctic Monkeys album, with nondescript rockers like ‘Black Treacle’ and ‘All My Own Stunts’ finding enough satisfying riffs and grooves to justify themselves, without ever achieving much more. There are highlights in the mix, though, largely in the second half, with the lovely ‘Piledriver Waltz’ being particularly memorable. Closer ‘That’s Where You’re Wrong’ is a bright, catchy rush, and so is the record’s best track, the bizarrely-titled Smiths homage ‘The Hellcat Spangled Shalalala’.

Lyrically, Turner continues his journey away from the charming realism of their debut towards a kind of universal poetry – unspecific but always personal, with a few swearwords thrown in for good measure. He comes out with some fantastically evocative lines: “I etched the face of a stopwatch on the back of a raindrop”, for instance, seems a bit naff on paper but will rattle around your head for days after you hear Turner enunciate it. Still, is that enough? _Suck_ lacks a major standout like _Humbug’s_ intensely pretty ‘Cornerstone’, the debut’s ‘A Certain Romance’ or _Nightmare’s_ cathartic ‘Do Me a Favour’ (the band’s career highlight); if you’re looking for a single to set the world on fire like ‘I Bet You Look Good on the Dancefloor’ it doesn’t have that either. What does it have? Ten considered, enjoyable rock songs and two irritating novelties – ‘Brick By Brick’ and ‘Don’t Sit Down ‘Cause I’ve Moved Your Chair’, if you were wondering. It just isn’t that exciting, and that’s a shame.