The Independent´s Verdict

The Irish online paper gave its "verdict" on NLOTH. Here are some excerpts...

"They took their time, didn't they? It's been four years and three months since the last U2 studio album -- the longest gap in the band's history. At times, this -- their 12th -- could have been called No Finish On The Horizon, such were the apparent difficulties and insecurities they faced when making it."

"A bold change in direction will not be found on the album either. It won't wrong-foot the listener in the way that Achtung Baby or even Pop did. But suggestions that U2 had lost their mojo are just as unfounded - and unfair. No Line On The Horizon may not be a masterpiece, but it is unquestionably a very good, consistently strong collection that's every bit the match of their two huge selling albums of this decade, All That You Can't Leave Behind and How To Dismantle An Atomic Bomb. Even Get On Your Boots proves to be a grower, working well when heard within the context of the album."

"It starts off strongly with the title track, a barnstorming stadium rock tune that could have come from the songwriting stable of Kings of Leon. The young Southerners have supported U2 on the road, and that clearly has had an impact on Bono. .."

"It's followed by one of the album's stand-outs, the aptly titled Magnificent. This already sounds like a classic U2 song that combines disparate eras of their career in a hugely appealing way -- War-meets-Zooropa, if you will. Even the most avowed U2-hater is likely to struggle to come up with reasons to dislike the Edge's irresistible guitars and muscular rhythm section. It's one of two songs featuring the keyboards of will.i.am."

"No Line On The Horizon is, for the most part, an upbeat album. There are several euphoric moments and lots of allusions to redemption. Songs like Moment Of Salvation -- which, at more than seven minutes long, definitely outstays its welcome -- is loaded with lyrics referencing 'soul', 'God' and 'fire'. The atmospheric Unknown Caller is cut from the same cloth. Let's face it, it would hardly be a U2 album if Bono wasn't engaged by such themes -- and if you're one of the many who finds this sort of stuff off-putting, much of the album simply won't work for you."

There are plenty of songs that won't have such a divisive effect, however. I'll Go Crazy If I Don't Go Crazy Tonight, for instance, is a massively uplifting number that's bound to be a live favourite when U2 take the show on the road this summer. There's humour too, as Bono, tongue firmly in cheek, notes: "The right to appear ridiculous is something I hold dear." Never a truer word spoken, Bono.

" Stand Up Comedy finds the frontman, who is given to wearing shoes with elevated soles, singing of "Napolean in high heels" before offering the killer line: "Be careful of small men with big ideas." The Edge's guitar playing is raw and dirty ... But the song fails to captivate. It just seems a little too contrived"

"The album's most intriguing song is FEZ -- Coming Home, which is a triumph of Eno's yen for experimentalism over U2's big sound. (In fact, Eno and Lanois share songwriting credits on several tracks.) It was one of the first songs recorded -- during sessions in the Moroccan city that gives the song its title -- and it's a hint about what this album could have sounded like if the band really had thrown caution to the wind. Its electro-ambient intro features the sound of birds singing and the bustle of Moroccan life (it was apparently recorded in the outdoor courtyard of an ancient riad) and Bono referencing the "let me in the sound" line from Get On Your Boots, before it dissolves into a scattergun rock that shifts and slides into unexpected territory. The tempo changes are surprising and the song boasts a daring that the bulk of the other tracks, for all their merits, simply lack."

"No Line On The Horizon is unlikely to disappoint the band's multitudinous fanbase. They haven't reinvented themselves as they have suggested, but instead play to their strengths. Fledgling bands with stadium rock ambitions could certainly learn a thing or two from this album"

"After such a long and difficult gestation, the album feels like a triumph. It won't change the world, but it does give Bono, The Edge, Adam and Larry a ticket for world domination once more. Just watch those sales figures roll in."

John Meagher for Independent.ie

source:www.independent.ie/entertainment/day-and-night/features/u2-the-verdict-1638490.html