
A thick, syrupy sludge replaces the band's signature high-speed garage energy, as if the songs have been dragged through the dust of the Mojave Desert.
The guitars vibrate with a heavy, sand-choked distortion, while a persistent carnivalesque dread creeps in through swirling vintage organs and a deliberate, heavy-footed drum stomp. The songwriting abandons kitchen-sink realism for cryptic, nocturnal character studies that demand deep listening.
Also reviewed byBBC Musicthe-fly.co.ukNMEClashDrowned in SoundAllMusic
How does Humbug sound next to the rest of Arctic Monkeys's catalogue?
This album stays in step with the catalogue across the board — no axis departs enough to be worth its own note. Hover the dots to see where each one sits.
Cassette uses generative AI to enrich its catalog. How we use AI →