Released: 2009

Genres: Indie Rock, Alternative Rock, Psychedelic Rock, Stoner Rock

The Musiquarium’s Humbug Review Score: 5/5

Marking a major stylistic shift from the preceding two albums, Humbug has the Monkeys go to the Land of the Free, teaming up with Queens of the Stone Age’s Josh Homme, who produces most of the album (James Ford produced three tracks) and helps bring out some psychedelic flourishes in the music. Homme’s influence is very apparent on this album and makes for the most unique album in the band’s catalogue thus far.

On Humbug, Alex Turner has significantly slowed down his vocal delivery and the amount of syllables per second, and in addition to that, the music has gotten much darker and sludgier too. Fans were worried that the lads were selling out by moving from the gloomy Sheffield to sunny Los Angeles, and that they’d abandon their roots, but this album was anything but selling out — this was the band pushing themselves in new directions, growing as artists as a result.

The album starts with the one-two punch of My Propeller and Crying Lightning, two of the band’s heavier (but still melodic) singles. Dangerous Animals has a fun chorus that spells out the song title. Secret Door is a ballad that still manages to let Matt Helders go to town on the drums during the verses, before going into a comely chorus. Potion Approaching is a hard-rocking song about building go-karts or something?

Cornerstone is one of the most beloved songs in the Arctic Monkeys canon and has a simple but iconic music video with Alex Turner in a red jumper. Pretty Visitors starts with carnivalesque synthesizers and has become one of the band’s most popular live songs. The back-end of the album has the band slowing things down, with more meditative slow-burners, like The Fire and the Thud, Dance Little Liar, The Jeweller’s Hands.

An initially polarizing (but bold) album that many fans have since come around to. It’s also one of the few instances of Josh Homme producing another band’s album and is a great crossover album for fans of both Queens of the Stone Age and Arctic Monkeys.

For credit breakdowns and historic release details, view Arctic Monkeys on Discogs.

Back to the 2009 Album Guide or the Arctic Monkeys Reviews page.

Written by Brett Nippard