Neon Bible by The Arcade Fire

Pros: Strong musical performances, big sounds

Cons: Occasional weak tracks

The Bottom Line: It lives up to the hype. That should say enough.

Review: The release of Arcade Fire's Neon Bible was one of the largest independent releases in the last year. The hype surrounding the album has been well-documented, and was especially notable on music blogs and websites, while the buzz also managed to ...

Pros: The instrumentation is amazing!

Cons: Two-chord songs? I thought they were better than that!

The Bottom Line: Unfortunately, they forgot how to write compelling songs, but WOW they orchestrated the heck out of these. Way to out-ELO ELO. Jeff Lynne is surely seething with jealously.

Review: Disclaimer: Those looking for a brief description of the album will find what their looking for in the "Review Body" section. The section titled "Track Reviews" is meant only for those who want to read detailed descriptions of the songs, and ...

Pros: Refocused sound of a band who never had much of an identity to begin with

Cons: Occasionally questionable production calls that results in murky listening

The Bottom Line: A final stake in the heart of their wildly over-estimated debut

Review: Allow me to address this formality before we begin: I was wrong about The Arcade Fire. In fact, I’ve been wrong for nearly three years. For clarification’s sake, it’s not the pride-toppling portion of the pill that embitters me – I ...

Pros: Read the review. Not to be demanding. But do it.

Cons: Neon Bible. The song. Not the whole album. I actually like the album.

The Bottom Line: Not as immediate as Funeral but with time perhaps just as good.

Review: You’ll be hard-pressed to find many albums this year that are met with the same unwavering anticipation and excitement as the Arcade Fire’s “Neon Bible”. The unabashedly emotive critical darlings from Montreal combined grandiose ...

Pros: Two near-classics

Cons: The debut was filler-free

The Bottom Line: Neon Bible is a good sophomore effort. Less rewarding and more demanding than Funeral; but in its ups and downs you can see an young band recasting their future promise

Review: 15 months ago I claimed ARCADE FIRE had released one of the best records of the current decade, period. Funeral: was melancholic, entrenched in future hopes with eyes firmly upon a wistful past. It bridged gaps between Rock generations with ...