Right before its release in early 2021, called the ' "Saturday Night party album" -- a self-evaluation that turns out to be pretty accurate. It also functions as an acknowledgment of an open secret within the band's catalog: for all their attributes, the have rarely been "fun." fix that deficit by diving head on into disco and dance, the syncopations and polyrhythms so dominating that the four-on-the-floor rock & roll ravers almost seem diminished in comparison. Dance-rock isn't necessarily the height of exploration -- cut disco the second they could back in the 1970s -- but have adhered to rock & roll basics for so long, the shift in rhythms seems nearly as giddy as the group's unexpected celebration of the power of the hook. Big riffs battle with the kind of nagging singalong choruses the band have avoided over the years, a combination that makes rush by with the intoxication of a good night out. Ballads are still part of the equation -- there's "Waiting on a War," a reflection of a lifetime spent in the shadow of combat that builds to a cathartic crescendo, plus the dreamy "Chasing Bird," which is the closest have ever come to soul -- but they provide necessary breathing room on a record that needs a brief respite from the relentless velocity of the rockers. The speed is crucial to the album's appeal, of course: is a speedy, hooky, and efficient record, every bit the party album promised. ~ Stephen Thomas Erlewine