The New Abnormal is the latest album to be released by indie rockers The Strokes, and after listening to it several times, we’re finally ready to unleash our review! Whilst we enjoyed most of it, we did find ourselves feeling a little disappointed at times.

By Jane Howkins

The Strokes are one of those bands that a lot of people tend to rave about, however this reviewer had admittedly not listened to a great deal of their music before checking The New Abnormal out . I was excited to check more of their music out, but found myself being a little disappointed with the album as a whole.

One of our biggest gripes is that it doesn’t sound like much of a cohesive record. There are some good tracks and stand-out moments abound, but the tracks don’t seem to meld together in the way one would normally expect from such an album. It’s also quite poppy, with synths galore bringing about an 80s sound to the album, pushing the band away from their indie rock roots.

However, there are still plenty of guitar riffs on show, albeit mixed together with keyboards and killer bass melodies. We particularly enjoyed the build-up in the verses to Brooklyn Bridge To Chorus, and The Strokes do seem to have a penchant for creating catchy melodies, without ever straying into the mainstream path.

The New Abnormal isn’t a bad album by any means, and there is much here to enjoy for fans. However, this probably isn’t the best album to try and get into The Strokes with, and we would recommend checking our their earlier stuff first – something that this reviewer will be doing now!