Creators of the fastest-selling debut album in U.K. history? Check.
Bragging rights for New Musical Express magazine's choice of the "Fifth greatest British album of all time" title? Check.
Band so perfect, tracks from its grand unveiling Whatever People Say I Am, That's What I'm Not likely spin on heavy rotation in heaven? Um, not quite.
But that's what early critics would have had listeners believe about the Arctic Monkeys following their January 2006 release — a time when the music world all but heralded the band's arrival onto the British rock scene as the second coming of The Beatles.
Surely, with all of the above hype surrounding the Monkeys' musical prowess, if their second full-length album were to have any prayer for survival, the band would have to again come out swinging. Any hesitation, lyrically, even hint of a tired chord — any mistake would be enough to send critics and listeners alike reeling.
Luckily for England's latest "Fab Four," the new album Favourite Worst Nightmare escaped such a catastrophic fate, achieving a slight maturity in content and continuing to push the tempo without pause. Make no mistake, this band is certainly not The Beatles — as is evident in the overlap of sound between the past and current products — but then again, they're not trying to be.
More in the vein of their Brit-rock predecessors the Smiths and Oasis and armed with the raucous sounds developed on Whatever, the Arctic Monkeys quickly rose among the ranks of English indie rock. The group capitalized on a raw intensity and working-class grit lacking in a music industry otherwise rife with material mentions. Instead of dipping into the money-obsessed, Cristal and bling-spouting school of lyricists, the band tapped into portraits of bums and prostitutes, and the same socially conscious themes are back again on Favourite Worst Nightmare.
The album pours on a bit more intensity than was heard in Whatever and wastes no time getting the blood pumping. The Arctic Monkeys turn the energy up full throttle from the onset of the first chord of "Brianstorm." Nick O'Malley makes his presence known as he forcefully lays down the bassline, while Jamie Cook feverishly plucks out one intense guitar riff after the next in a track penned in reference to a crazed Monkeys fan who left a strange impression on the band.
The end result is a much harder sound than listeners are used to in comparison to their previous efforts, but it certainly succeeds in conveying the rattling feeling the band was shooting for.
Continuing on in highly energetic fashion, the Monkeys add a little something extra to the style heard on Whatever, with darker content and infectious melodies building from the repetition of three-chord structures. The disc's third track, "D is for Dangerous," serves as a prime example of this musical growth. The driving track couples catchy guitar with echoing vocals and forceful lyrics ("D is for delightful/ And try and keep your trousers on/ I think you should know you're his favourite worst nightmare/ D is for …/ Desperately trying to stimulate what it was that was all right … ") to achieve a punching sound from start to finish.
Likewise, its bookending counterpart, track 11 ("Old Yellow Bricks") lays on the commentary amid a pulsing melody that drives along much in the fashion of Monkeys' hit "Fake Tales of San Francisco." The song speaks against living in the past, knocking the central character for avoiding reality and refusing to accept his current situation as lead singer Alex Turner charges: "Houdini look, you don't know what you're running away from/ He wants to sleep in the city that never wakes up/ Blinded by nostalgia."
But while the Arctic Monkeys thrive on the energy of tracks bursting at the seams with booming guitar and percussion fusions, it is equally enjoyable when dialed down a notch in tracks such as "Fluorescent Adolescent" and "Only Ones Who Know." Although the former kicks off in a fashion all too familiar (it sounds like a sample of the Monkeys own "Mardy Bum"), its subtlety serves as a strong suit. The song gently skates along to the light beats of Matt Hedlers' drumset playing, with Turner serving as the momentum on the enjoyably melodic ride. In his Yorkshire dialect, Turner effortlessly delivers the sharp, sexually flavored lyrics and pulls all the pieces together in a playful yet soothing harmony.
Likewise, "Only Ones Who Know" excels in slowing down the reeling sounds of guitars typical of much of Favourite Worst Nightmare. The melancholy tone of the track sounds almost out of place on such an amped-up album, but the gentleness in Turner's vocals provides an excellent contrast and showcases a versatility in style at the CD's midpoint.
Compounding both light and dark, old and new by the time the final chords of Favourite Worst Nightmare fade away to silence, the Arctic Monkeys show that although they don't quite live up to the whole "best band ever" hype just yet, they still have plenty of room to grow, and they're having fun experimenting along the way.
Grade: 3.5 out of 5
