It’s almost as if Bono courts the annoyance of the public, he’s bloody good at it too. Be it prophesising alongside George Bush, or on his high horse attaching himself to every right on political cause going, even his now discarded hair weave and brothel creeper shoes are annoying especially when after all that extra height augmentation, he’s still significantly smaller than diminutive pop pixie (Brave tm) Kylie Minogue and as for his ever sincere pinched face well, ahhh, that’s a story in itself so let’s move on.

Over their thirty two year existence, U2 have been blatant in their influences be it Joy Division for their first two albums, Echo and the Bunnymen on 1984’s classic ‘ The Unforgettable Fire’, Stone Roses and Happy Mondays got a going over on 1991’s ‘Achtung baby’ even the trip hop genre was u2ised on 1997’s oft dismissed ‘Pop’ album. Since ‘Pop’ they have been treading water spending the best part of 12 years pushing themselves away from new territory and chasing their fans hard earned cash who gladly submitted like malfunctioning robot zombies.

2004 long playing non-starter ‘How to dismantle an atomic bomb was as massive as everything they do, but was creatively redundant, a rethink was long overdue. The five years since that album has been punctuated with much head scratching and after ditching an albums worth of material recorded with Rick Rubin, they gave the call to long term collaborators, super-producers Daniel Lanois, Steve Lillywhite and Brian Eno. It’s a call that has worked out well for them as this album is easily their best since 1994’s ‘Zooropa’

For all their years of leeching off other bands for inspiration, their 11th album ‘No line on the horizon’ has them looking back at their own musical achievements and updating them whilst doffing a knowing cap to Arcade Fire have a lot to answer for, not only did they push Coldplay into making a decent album, they’ve also inspired U2 to be as anthemic as they always were but manages to steer clear of the usual histrionics associated with U2.

The brooding title track has U2 performing at their bombastic best, The Edge’s superior guitar work to the fore embracing their own past with a casual crib of their own ‘Unforgettable Fire’ battling against The Edge’s superior, the aching angst ridden ‘Magnificent’ with Bono blustering “only love can leave such a mark” is a purpose made arena filler and the high point; ‘Unknown Caller’. With yelped vocal statements similar to those of Tunde Adibempe of Brooklyn’s finest TV on the radio’. Beginning with Depeche Mode style electronica breaking into a chiming thing of crystallized beauty.

Fascinatingly, the best tracks, the first four, are all co-written with Brian Eno and Daniel Lanois and it’s their dark atmospherics which complement U2’s bluster to perfection, when not being assisted by the production heavyweights, the music is hollow, the sentiment lost and the fast forward button swiftly pressed. The hollow White Stripes rip off ‘Get on your boots’ is U2 having fun and when U2 have fun, it’s only ever them doing so. Whereas ‘I’ll go crazy if I don’t go crazy tonight’ is shameless irrelevant guff and the rock stodge of ‘Unknown Comedy’ sounds like so called psychic mid nineties rock losers Kula Shaker, it’s barrel scraping stuff.

For all the rumours of experimentation prior to this album, it doesn’t happen. Yes, there’s an occasional ambient aside here and an interesting new chime on Edges’ guitar there but more often than not ‘No Line on the horizon’ is just like all the other U2 albums, some great tracks, plenty of average ones and a few tentative steps towards trying something different only to run screaming back to their comfort zone, as usual, a feeling of being cheated prevails.

6/10
Chris Todd