Yeah Yeah Yeahs - It's Blitz!

The Verdict - 8.6 out of 10

'It's Blitz!? It's Glam!' was my first thought after finishing a first run-through of the awesome new Yeah Yeah Yeah's album, It's Blitz!. Nearly gone now is the focused squall of Nick Zinner's guitar. In their place is a sea of vintage synths.

While you would figure this to be a much softer and introspective album, (which it is, owning mostly to the locals where the album was recorded; a former dairy farm in Massachusetts, and Sonic Ranch studios, near El Paso, which had 1,700 acres all it's own), the band can still cajole (EXHIBIT A & B: Soft Shock and Shame and Fortune).

But most of the album is accurately described by the aforementioned title, Soft Shock. It's Blitz relies on atmospherics more than anything the band has ever released, which is a bigger headfuck than the case of the missing guitars.

Many will dismiss this as Karen O. going soft on us, but that doesn't really paint a fair and full picture. The Yeah Yeah Yeahs have released such a diverse album as to bear comparison to bands as strange as Portishead, the Cardigans and a tinge of Kate Bush. How can you find (much) fault in that?