...The sweetest melody is the one we haven't heard.

Indeed it is...and this album is nothing like we've ever heard. I've been waiting for this day for more than four years. "No Line on the Horizon" dropped today, and B-D bought and burned me the CD from iTunes this morning before I left for work (I gave up non-essential shopping for Lent, and wasn't sure how I was going to get the music...so muchas gracias, te amo!!). I've listened to the album 5 times already, and each time it gets better. I'm going to generalize by saying that if you didn't like "Zooropa" you probably won't like "NLOTH". The album is largely experimental, and inventive. As a music fan, there's nothing more boring to me than an album that has the exact same sound as the one before (or the one before that). In listening to any of the 11 tracks, it's very apparent that it's U2...Edge's guitar is so distinct...Bono's voice is still damn sexy...and Clayton's bass continues to be to U2 what flour is to any delicious cookie recipe: necessary, and wouldn't be right without it. There are some distinct differences, however. A huge surprise is Larry Mullen's presence on each track. His abilities on the drums are phenomenal, but they've managed to kind of blend or get lost in the background in previous albums. In "NLOTH" he's in the driver's seat. I never thought I'd say that he outplays Edge, but it's true. Right after Bono, Mullen makes this album. Right now, my favourite track on the album is a toss-up between "Magnificent" (I've been doing the oh-so-subtle 'desk-dance' all morning to this track...you know bobbing head, white man's overbite, shoulders shrugging), "I'll go Crazy If I Don't Go Crazy Tonight" and "Unknown Caller". They're all very different songs, but each are so raw with emotion both musically and lyrically. Is this my favourite U2 album? As far as I'm concerned, no album will ever touch "Achtung Baby", U2 or not. "NLOTH" is an amazing, challenging, beautiful album. Definitely the best one I've heard in a while. Bono is quoted in an interview as saying, "If we're going to make an album, it's very important to us that every song on the album is a "10." I think the reason people aren't buying albums is a lot of times they only get one or two good songs. For us, every song had to be extraordinary, and special, and unique, and the whole had to be better than the sum of its parts. You'll have to decide if we achieved that, but that's what we were attempting."

Mission accomplished boys! Now go get your own copy...legally.