U2

How to Dismantle an Atomic Bomb (HTDAAB)

Fountain of Youth

Review Score:

(10/10)
No more calls please, we have our winner. Once again U2 have come up with the best rock album of the year. So what's new? These guys are running like a well-oiled machine now, showing no signs of complacency, rocking as hard as they ever have and harder than most groups young enough to be their children. How to Dismantle an Atomic Bomb sounds essentially like a sequel to their previous gem, All That You Can't Leave Behind. One might suspect from the new album's title that Bono will be putting his famous political activism into song. One would be wrong. As usual the songs here are personal and laden with emotion. Bono, whose vocal range continues to astound, puts on another tour de force. The passion that he wears on his sleeve still somehow never appears contrived, it simply serves to provide drama and weight to the fine material. The Edge, guitarist extraordinaire, provides color and texture with his instantly recognizable style that somehow always sounds fresh. Clayton and Mullen are as dependable a rhythm section as ever was. These boyhood friends have now been recording music together for 25 years (or, what seems to us, an eye blink). Not only have they managed to endure, they continue to thrive. Fact is, if one may judge from the intense energy that emanates from the songs on this album, these boys appear to be getting younger. We've always suspected that Rock and Roll was the Fountain of Youth. This here is documentation.

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