Rating: 3,5/5

After blowing rock music to smithereens with the creepy, operatic OK Computer and the eerie, freak-out Kid A, Radiohead opted to remain in the same stylistic space for its latest endeavor Amnesiac. That's not to say that this latest disc doesn't continue to push boundaries. It most certainly does that. But this time around, Radiohead declined to shift its focus and instead put together an album that clears the deck for whatever path the group's members might wish to wander next. Consequently, Amnesiac feels more like a hodgepodge of B-sides and previously unreleased recordings (albeit very good ones), resulting in a collection of songs that lean towards the "been there, done that" side of the spectrum.

Throughout Amnesiac, Radiohead employs the same suffocating, isolated ambience that graced the disc's predecessors. On "Pyramid Song", an orchestra chimes in, rising and falling as the band drifts just slightly off-kilter in a space-age waltz, and the droning percussive groove of "I Might Be Wrong" becomes a twirling, meditative churn. Singer Thom Yorke's vocals continue to swoon with a dreamy, yet suicidal quality, often swerving into the contorted, mechanical fragments of a futuristic, nightmarish hallucination. Volleys of electronic tones bombard his distorted spoken word exchange with avant garde artiness on "Pulk/Pull Revolving Doors". On "You and Whose Army?", Yorke seems to struggle for his breath as he sinks deeper into the song's bubbling, molten texture.

While Amnesiac does have a little more in common with OK Computer than it does with Kid A, it is not the listener-friendly outing it was touted to be. Indeed, the major difference between these two discs is simply the return of Jonny Greenwood's guitar, though it's now utilized primarily to add additional shade and color to the band's murky mood music. Since Amnesiac and Kid A were culled from the same recording sessions, it really shouldn't be much of a surprise that the releases do share such a close bond. However, while one album of electronic experimentation sounds fresh, two can be a bit trying, and part of the problem with Amnesiac no doubt lies in the fact that its songs don't hold together as well as those on Kid A. Regardless, Radiohead remains a major force, reshaping the face of rock music for the new millennium, and as they close this chapter of their history, one can only wonder where they will go from here.

-John Metzger

The Music Box
09.01