By Nick Weingartner
“No Line on The Horizon” has been getting some ridiculously rave reviews. Rolling Stone, Blender and England’s Q Magazine have all given it their coveted five-star ratings, and just about everyone else has followed suit. But with all this hype, it sets pretty high expectations. They call it brilliant, endearing and some even say it’s a masterpiece. Now, we all know the media has a habit of over-hyping something to the point where it’s a letdown.So there’s only one question to ask. Does “No Line on The Horizon” live up to it’s hype?
The thing is-it actually does. It is everything you hear it is. It is brilliant, endearing and most importantly it is a masterpiece.
Gone are the days of mediocre U2, where countdowns are in bad Spanish and catch phrases dominate the lyrics. With this album, U2 ushers itself into a new age where the emotions present in the early albums, like “The Joshua Tree,” find their way back and where the band pushes the limits of what they can do. In doing so, they craft one of their best albums to date.
The album starts off with its title track, a pulsating and rather experimental song where Bono pushes his voice past its usual limits and the band follows suite. It sets the tone for the album, and from the first verse you know that you’re not going anywhere expected.
Follows are a set of beautifully composed songs including “Moment of Surrender,” which is by far one of the most epic songs, with Bono wailing “At the moment of surrender/I’m falling to my knees/I did not notice the passersby/and they did not notice me.” And with this Bono achieves what most vocalists rarely do-his emotion is felt through his voice, not just his lyrics.
A clear front runner for the album’s first single is “Get On Your Boots,” where the band rocks out and Bono gets some soul. From a quick listen it’s easy to hear why this song will soon dominate the radio waves.
The album waxes and wanes like the moon during an evening tide, with straight-up rock songs juxtaposed with emotional ballads, and does it in ways that you’ve never heard U2 do it before.
Ringing with originality and confidence, “No Line on The Horizon” just may become your next favorite driving album. All you have to do is get in, put it in the stereo and crank the volume-and life will follow suite.