Album: Arctic Monkeys - 'Humbug'

The Arctic Monkeys are back with their third album and we are in for a bit of a change of sound. You would think that this has been influenced by Alex Turner's move to New York with Alexa Chung, but he says otherwise. Apparently the inspiration for the first few guitar riffs came while the band were attending Latitude Festival last year.

This may be true, but the Stateside flavour is very apparent in Humbug. For starters, it was co-produced by Josh Homme of Queens of the Stone Age glory and the album was wholly recorded in the United States. The 'new sound' is darker but the pop rifts are still there. Unsurprisingly the heavier elements are reminiscent of Homme's band.

Turner still has it when it comes to weaving a way with words. Their first single Crying Lightning perfectly displays it with the line "I smelt your scent on a seatbelt". Simple yet witty is always going to be a winner.

The rest of the album feels more expansive and 'grown-up', which considering Turner is still only 23 is a bit strange. There is a great yet weird feeling to Humbug, largely due to the guitar effects and keyboard wizardary. But it works well as an album, as a whole rather than filler tracks with chart worthy singles.

Pretty Visitors slows things right down, another sign of maturity and confidence oozing through Humbug. All the tracks have epic titles like Secret Door and Dangerous Animals, which in two ways are cool - over the top and dramatic but at the same time arrogant and smug. We wouldn't want to see these down-to-earth Sheffield boys losing their way.

We are please to say that isn't the case. Overall this is a bit of a brave move that has paid off and an album that they should be pretty smug about, actually.

Check out the band at www.myspace.com/arcticmonkeys

Buy Humbug from 7digital for £5 or on CD from Amazon for around £9.