10 Overrated Rock Music Albums Of The 2010s
4. The Strokes - The New Abnormal
When the Strokes returned in 2011 with Angles, the anticipation and ultimate response were unusually muted. After their amazing debut Is This It, they’d been on a downward trajectory, so a comeback didn’t inspire too much confidence. With latest album The New Abnormal, though, the hype machine of old finally kicked back into gear. The Strokes were back on top form!
Well, kind of. The New Abnormal is a surprising album in a few ways. It’s the sound of some 40-something rockers trying their hardest to sound exactly like they did in their lithe prime, and doing a quite good job of it. Return to form, though, it just isn’t.
Razor sharp Bad Decisions is a winner, and Brooklyn Bridge to Chorus could slot into Room on Fire. The rest slumps along, heart in the right place, but a mile away from the energy of old. It’s to be expected, and the fact the Strokes really don’t embarrass themselves is to their credit.
This Grammy winning album completed the Strokes’ slow, unsteady comeback with their best album since 2003, but if you revisit some of the stuff in between, that’s not saying all that much.