Arctic Monkeys - AM

My father is a lovely man, he took the time out to pick up this utter beaut from my local HMV as my work commitments had me unable to pick it up until Saturday. It was waiting for me when I walked through the door, so I'm starting this off by saying thanks a million Dad.

So here it is the fifth album by the Arctic Monkeys 'AM'. Love the cover and the packaging, it's a simple killer delivery in black and white.

The vinyl has a gate fold cover, 180 gram vinyl (nice and weighty) with a paper sheet with tracks and lyrics. Also worth noting the paper sleeve that the record lives in is lined with anti static polythene. Now I'm not a massive geek but these things protect the records better and it's always nice when they bother to give you one like that . . . ahem.

The album itself is a belter. I'm always impressed with the direction this band take with their music, never staying in the same place for too long. Everyone I know slated 'humbug' and 'suck it and see' whereas I've always enjoyed them, however 'AM' has a something else, a confidence and an attitude that wasn't quite there before. It's a shot in the arm, one that you want to replay as soon as it's over. The tracks you've probably heard like 'do I wanna know?', 'why'd you only call me when you're high?' and of course 'R U mine?' stand out but sit well in harmony with the rest. The stand out track for me being 'Arabella' with it's Black Sabbath esque riffing.

It's a great record, one I'm glad I got on vinyl as for that extra fiver you get a package that stands out and looks very cool on the player. The inside photo only solidifies why I love this format, it's a great portrait of a band brimming with confidence and it's blown up to 12"s rather than on a much smaller CD. This also comes with an download code and you can choose either mp3 or super high quality wav.  

Listen: Spotify
Buy: Domino Records