This album has brought out fans far and wide to support a band that started off just wanting to write what they wanted. It is a nod to all the classic Strokes sounds that are known and loved without being boring or predictable, and feels like a journey through their full discography over the years, all mashed into one remarkable release.
Abnormal offers something even better, possibly, than reckless youth: rock stars finally old enough to truly miss those good old days — and wise enough now, too, to give us the soundtrack these strange new times deserve.
Full of passion, commitment, and creativity, The New Abnormal marks the first time in a while that the Strokes have made truly exciting music.
The Strokes seem to have finally remembered exactly how magical they can be.
On The New Abnormal, the Strokes sound more in sync than almost ever.
The New Abnormal cements their continued relevance when many had been written them off, and as ever they don’t seem to care either way.
The band seems happier and healthier together, while simultaneously pulling together their best set of songs in the past decade. Couple that with Rick Rubin’s cinematic production and you have the high point of the late-career Strokes records.
The New Abnormal is a chapter much further down in that blockbuster, the second coming of a band who collapsed and rebuilt, it may not be considered a classic such as their beginnings but The Strokes are back to making damn good rock music.
More than just an oddity in The Strokes' catalog, The New Abnormal is a return to form after the disappointing Comedown Machine.
The New Abnormal contains NYC grit, soul and substance in abundance, something that The Strokes have struggled to find since Room on Fire.
The New Abnormal – a spookily prophetic title – is stacked with rolling, streetwise grooves, boldly graffitied onto the chipped paintwork of NYC past.
There are so many pastiches of the 1980’s now and yet The Strokes have been ploughing this furrow for a while, but this is as fresh as a daisy and could have come out in 2001 which would have made Is This It a 1982 album, slap bang in the post punk afterglow. Maybe they do own a time machine.
The Strokes' sixth album isn't a straightforward rejuvenation, but after a string of awkward compromises, the thaw is tangible.
There’s plenty to praise on the record, even though the listener has been certified as a second thought. Like its cover, the Jean-Michel Basquiat artwork ‘Bird On Money’, it’s spiky but quite stunning. This is a cool album, the kind you begrudgingly grow to love, even if it never cared about you.
The New Abnormal proves that when they put their minds to it, that old magic is still well within the Strokes’s grasp.
The New Abnormal is less new big bang, more engrossing sizzle.
The Strokes have looked to the past, both musically and personally, for this album’s inspiration and have been able to use this to make a fresh sound for themselves and take a slight shift in direction while keeping their style.
Even with its inevitable blemishes, The New Abnormal is easily the freshest, most interesting album that The Strokes have released in more than a decade.
While there are familiar modes, the album also attempts to reconcile the band’s core sound with progressions in Casablancas’s musical interests since.
The New Abnormal still manages to find a fresh, albeit more low-key, way into the woozy late-night grandeur they’ve always been so skilled at evoking.
As today’s mainstream looks for comfort and solace in a time of uncertainty, the nostalgic The New Abnormal is rather appropriate for a time when absurdity is every day.
While it isn’t weighed down by as many clear duds as, say, First Impressions of Earth, it is in some respects equally tortured.
The New Abnormal is a diverse and mature sixth album, exuding worldly confidence as it dismisses the detractors, rivals and lovers of a time less amenable than their hedonist pomp.
Bands used to be ridiculed for saying they were just making music for themselves, and if anyone else likes it, it's a bonus. But that genuinely does feel like what The Strokes are doing at this stage.
The band has framed The New Abnormal as a sort of rebirth, a return to enlightened society after a decade wandering in the wilderness. Incredibly, that isn’t as much of an oversell as one would expect.
The New Abnormal does herald another unexpected state of affairs: one in which this band’s long, slow, painful decline finally levels out a little.
This is not an album that will make The Strokes new friends, but it might satisfy the faithful. Sometimes it is enough just to sound great.
The New Abnormal is not a bad record, but it is a frustrating one, made by a band that feels pulled in a dozen different directions.
On their latest album, The New Abnormal, The Strokes have mirrored the career of Beck, offering a mimetic approximation of music they think people want, instead of music generated from their raw, inner demons or whatever fueled them on Is This It. Not surprisingly, the band sounds like musicians seeking the lowest common denominator in pop music: a number one hit.
If you heard Comedown Machine, their incredibly lacklustre 2013 album, then you’ve basically heard everything here, but here’s the kicker – this isn’t as boring.
The NYC band’s first album in seven years is sluggish and slight, rendering their signature sound as background music.
The New Abnormal is still a way from being The Strokes’ Tranquility Base Hotel and Casino, but at moments its getting there. It’s certainly self-indulgent enough, and admirably pig-headed too.
The Strokes' The New Abnormal is an unabashedly uninspired promotional item for their upcoming world tour.
Video Review: https://youtu.be/Ik98n44BezQ
The Strokes decide to do the exact opposite of what Green Day did on their last record, as The New Abnormal manages to keep Rock alive, and feeling fresh.
Did they just… do that?
VIDEO REVIEW: https://youtu.be/auAE2un2x0g
If you look at the comment thread on this record’s page, you can see how my ever-growing expectations for this album never ceased. Over the years, I’ve become a huge fan of The Strokes. Their unique style of indie rock is just something to behold by all fans of art. Their material is some of the most ground-breaking, inventive, and ambitious. Ever since I heard the first single from this record, “At the ... read more
Julien Casablancas is drunk.
I’m dedicating this review to @Jc9ers, who is one of the kindest people I’ve ever known. You’ve inspired me to become a better person, do something about my life, and be a better influence on people. If I could give you a hug, I’d do it right now. You deserve one.
Anyway, on August 12, 2022, I saw The Strokes live with Thundercat and Red Hot Chili Peppers. I loved the performance, although the lead singer was drunk as shit. I loved their ... read more
This was such a good comeback by The Strokes. Ode to the Mets made me cry, man lol. The Adults are Talking is one of my favorite songs by them too. Love this entire album a lot.
Drunk Late Nights- 3AM when the lights are dim- When the party's dead, when everyone's going home, and you're talking out loud, but not really sure if anyone's listening or even cares anymore, and you can't help but think yourself that the world's just kind of a shitty place, and you're feeling cynical but don't really even want to think about it all, and the boombox is gone, the TV's got nothing and you're too tired to really kick the can around, but don't really want to sleep yet– When ... read more
1 | The Adults Are Talking 5:09 | 96 |
2 | Selfless 3:42 | 93 |
3 | Brooklyn Bridge to Chorus 3:55 | 88 |
4 | Bad Decisions 4:53 | 87 |
5 | Eternal Summer 6:15 | 85 |
6 | At The Door 5:10 | 91 |
7 | Why Are Sundays So Depressing 4:35 | 89 |
8 | Not the Same Anymore 5:37 | 89 |
9 | Ode to the Mets 5:51 | 96 |
#1 | / | Les Inrocks |
#1 | / | Magnet |
#2 | / | Hot Press |
#4 | / | NME |
#8 | / | Los Angeles Times |
#10 | / | Good Morning America |
#11 | / | The Wild Honey Pie |
#12 | / | NBHAP |
#17 | / | DIY |
#21 | / | Northern Transmissions |