Sound: Their signature, downtown hipster rock gets a shot of adrenaline on the first half of the album as Julian Casablancas’ normally lazy vocals become energized and up front while twin guitars shred bigger than ever before. However, the music is often more memorable than the choruses. By the second half, the lack of snappy melodies and hooks often devolves into tuneless droning, moaning and musical mush.
Heavy Rotation track: “Juicebox”
Medium Rotation tracks: “Heart In a Cage“; “You Only Live Once”
Recommended: It’s honorable they branched out and kicked their sound up a couple gears. When it works, you get a handful of quality Strokes moments. But the vocals rarely match the intensity of the guitars, leaving an imbalanced feel overall. Plus, they should have trimmed several of the second half tracks. For best results, skip tracks 9 through 11 and 13.
Grade: B-

(As posted 2/20/06 on davepowersmusic.com)
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