Humbug - Arctic Monkeys
Humbug Image

Generally favorable reviews - based on 26 Critics What's this?

User Score

Universal acclaim- based on 191 Ratings

Your Score
0 out of 10
Rate this:
  • 10
  • 9
  • 8
  • 7
  • 6
  • 5
  • 4
  • 3
  • 2
  • 1
  • 0
  • 0
  • Summary: The third album for the British band was co-produced by Josh Homme and James Ford.
Score distribution:
  1. Positive: 20 out of 26
  2. Negative: 0 out of 26
  2. You can either keep chasing an elusive past, relying on your fans' nostalgia, or you can press on, keeping your gaze fixed forward. The first option is easier, but Humbug admirably takes the second, with a confidence that suggests that if their days at the eye of the storm are behind them, Arctic Monkeys' best might be yet to come.
  3. 80
    Beyond the dirty talk, this is a beautifully balanced record. [Sep 2009, p.94]
  4. Whether you call the Arctic Monkeys' evolving sound Britpop or Britprog, it's clear the album shows remarkable progress for the band.
  5. Humbug is a pretty good album that’s pleasingly incongruous amongst the pre-fab boredom of much modern Brit indie. It’s eminently not astounding but it is inventive, and likeably so.
  6. These are small quibbles with an almost uniformly excellent album. But at heart, Humbug fails to make that same connection the band once did, where musician and fan were one and the same. It just sounds too polished, too mature--too good.
  7. More often than not on Humbug, they sound like a less inspired version of themselves.

See all 26 Critic Reviews

Score distribution:
  1. Positive: 61 out of 67
  2. Negative: 2 out of 67
  1. NicholasM
    Aug 25, 2009
    Most of the people downvoting it are doing so cause it's just not their debut album (Part II), the album shows them embracing new sounds and releasing an album with Alex Turner's finest lyrics to date, definitely a grower of an album, but a classic once you get past that Expand
  2. SteveH
    Sep 8, 2009
    The first two albums were very good but this incredibly tops it, it is hard to put it down it is so good. Takes a few spins but it is well worth it.
  3. BrianH
    Nov 13, 2009
    This entire album "Makes my head pirouette!!!".
  4. ChrisM
    Aug 30, 2009
    Not a perfect record, but incredibly enjoyable. Josh Homme's influence comes shining through, making for a darker, harder, slower sound. If you like rock and you like the Arctic Monkeys, there's a lot to like in this record. Expand
  5. Jun 8, 2011
    A menacing, foreboding and psychedelic record, the Monkeys really show a desire to push the boundaries on Humbug (that is, if they had any). Spin it several times and you'll find it growing on you, as it doesn't replicate the hooks and melody of the first two albums, but pulls you in with the atmosphere and talented songwriting. Expand
  6. WoutN.
    Nov 29, 2009
    Good album, good album. Unfortunately it is less good than the first two albums. Whatever People Say was the best, good rock en pop too. Favourite Worst Nightmare was okay, but less than their first. And this one... where is the real AM? This one is too soft. Not that it's bad! No, eally it is okay... but it could been better! Expand
  7. TiagoA
    Aug 26, 2009
    I don't Like this band , they get worse and worse. This album it's ridiculous.

See all 67 User Reviews