“Tranquility Base Hotel & Casino” Review. It Slaps.

Sheffield based rock band Arctic Monkeys have been one of the biggest names in rock music since even before their debut album “Whatever People Say I Am, That’s What I’m Not” released in 2006. Considered one of the first bands to gain widespread attention due to the internet, the band’s debut album is still the fastest selling debut album in UK chart history.

Despite having released five albums since their 2006 debut, Alex Turner and company had not reached the heights of the first album in my eyes. They are lacking the guitar driven garage rock formula that was all over “Whatever People Say I Am, That’s What I’m Not.” It was replaced instead with desert and stoner rock vibes on the polarizing Josh Homme-produced “Humbug” in 2009 and later indie rock aesthetic on 2013’s massively popular, “AM.”

After nearly five years since the last Arctic Monkeys album, the band announced “Tranquility Base Hotel & Casino” (TBH&C).

From the moment it was announced, I had hoped that Turner had returned to his roots with a album more in line with their guitar-heavy first two albums, and not the moody indie rock of their last. What I got was a completely different album to what I had hoped for.

At its core, TBH&C is an album that sounds like something you would hear in the 2070’s, rather than 2018. Very much of that is on purpose; the record being a concept album about a hotel and casino resort on a colonized moon in the future.

Despite me wanting a hard-hitting garage rock record, I was almost immediately won over by lead singer Turner singing about wanting to “be one of The Strokes,” and talking about “The Martini Police” over a lounge-like instrumental on the opening track “Star Treatment.”

Lyrically, the record is littered with science fiction references ranging from George Orwell’s dystopian novel “1984” to the 1986 cult classic film “Blade Runner”.

Along with references to The Strokes and “Blade Runner,” the album tells a story of an aging rock star narrator who now leads a small lounge band at the titular Tranquility Base Hotel & Casino on a colonized moon.

Across 11 tracks, Arctic Monkeys deliver a lounge and space pop record with standout tracks. “Four Out Of Five” and the wonderfully named “The Ultracheese” are some of the best the band has produced. Along with the general vibe of the album being that of interstellar hotel songs, like “Star Treatment” and “One Point Perspective,” hammer home the story of Turner, or the narrator, as an aging rockstar clinging to whatever he can.

While the albums connecting concepts may not be as apparent and concise as they are on other concept albums, like My Chemical Romance’s “The Black Parade” or Pink Floyd’s “The Wall,” they are still there and obvious for those who want to find it while not overbearing for those who don’t.

Along with the concept, the album has a concise sound that, while it is not always my cup of tea due to its softer leanings, it scratched an itch I didn’t know I had for a spacey jazz-influenced lounge pop science fiction record.

Overall, Arctic Monkeys deliver again with an album that, while not my favorite record by them,  is certainly above their last two. Individually, the songs are good, but not great, but together they come together to form one of the best albums I’ve heard from Turner and company since their debut.

At worst, it sounds like a boring space movie, and at best it sounds like the biggest space epic you’ve ever seen or heard.

Does it slap or does it not slap?

It slaps.