To put it plainly, the Yeah Yeah Yeahs' latest album, Show Your Bones, is superb, classic even. It's a roaring, anthemic punk/pop rock and roll extravaganza that vibrates with intensity and hums with thinly veiled carnal urges, to put it not as simply.

Gone is the vulnerability of the band's 2003 album Fever to Tell, which was best exemplified by the pleading "they don't love you like I love you" heartbreaker "Maps." It seems that singer Karen O got over whatever heartache was plaguing her and swapped it with a swaggering, defiantly pissed-off confidence, evidenced by lyrics like "Turn yourself around, you weren't invited" that set the cocky, assertive tone of the entire album.

As with Fever to Tell, there are moments on Show Your Bones when O sounds exactly like the Pretenders' Chrissie Hynde. However, for most of the album, her voice is less sultry and more a clarion call, clear like a bell and free from the slightly distorted emotional angst that resonated on "Maps." O is done being contemplative: her voice announces that she finished messing around with love and is now more interested in being aggressive with rock-and-roll.

The band's sound, much like O's voice, sounds less gritty on Show Your Bones. There are still flashes of the band's garage rock roots ("Cheated Hearts," "Mysteries") but for the most part the Yeah Yeah Yeahs' sound is cleaner. They've traded in some of their garage band sensibilities for a slightly poppier mentality. This doesn't mean they've sold out, and it doesn't mean the punk artistry isn't there, it just means there is less fuzz and distortion. Some may argue that this is what the Yeah Yeah Yeahs' sound is about, but this album doesn't need the effects to be good.

Shows Your Bones begins with the strident "Gold Lion," which propels itself along like a march through an almost maddeningly steady beat, compliments of drummer Brian Chase, who serves as the drum corps for this battle cry. The Yeah Yeah Yeahs seem to be marching toward combat, which escalates with O's crying whoops and guitarist Nick Zinner's piercing, distorted crescendo. The message of "Gold Lion?" The Yeah Yeah Yeahs came to rock, and a seven-nation army couldn't stop them from doing so. (This seems like an appropriate time to mention that the band first toured as the opening act for the White Stripes).

"Phenomena" is another showstopper, on which the band thumps along to Chase's beat. Although the track starts out heavier than "Gold Lion," the rally cry/war march vibe is present. "Phenomena" evolves into a mishmash of crunchy guitar and heavy drums, which serve as the perfect background to O's vaguely threatening warning "she'll make you sweat in the water." The track then reduces itself back into the head banging rhythm with which it began. Perfect.

"Gold Lion" and "Phenomena" are the best tracks on Show Your Bones', but in no way do they surpass the rest of the album. The Yeah Yeah Yeahs turn the volume way up on the persistently heavy "Honeybear" and then way down for "Dudley," a sweet, rock lullaby that evokes the Cure and showcases the group's slightly softer side.

With "Mysteries" the band seems to be playing tribute to their musical contemporaries and New York buddies the Strokes. The distortion on this track is heavy, the beat is jumpy (think "Someday") and the mood is jubilantly playful, until O starts screaming and the trio ends the track with a thrashing muddle of drums and guitar fuzz.

On the album's last two tracks, the Yeah Yeah Yeahs are quieter and more contemplative. There are still moments you can bang your head to, but at this point on the album the bones have been shown, the battle has ended and been won. The pace slows at the end, but this isn't a sign of defeat, rather it's an indication that the band has given their rock and roll effort every ounce of energy they had. It's appropriate that one of these final tracks is titled "Warrior."

It doesn't matter if you've never listened to the Yeah Yeah Yeahs before, because Show Your Bones needs no precursor. The album stands on its own as a defiant, punk/rock powerhouse that inspires listeners to not only show their bones, but to move and shake them around a bit too.

5 out of 5