Strokes strike a match with 'Room on Fire'

By Jeff Renfro

̢۬In their highly anticipated follow-up to 2001's "Is This It?," The Strokes have produced the finest album of the year. The band continues its obsession with rhythm as the songs are still played with a tangible urgency. The only real departures from the first album are the flashes of sincerity and maturity which sometimes appear in the lyrics.

The album originally began production with Nigel Godrich (producer of the last several Radiohead albums) manning the boards. After only a few weeks, the band (Julian Casablancas on vocals, Albert Hammond and Nick Valensi on guitars, Nicolai Fraiture on bass, and Fabrizio Moretti on drums) decided that Godrich was not the right fit and went back to Gordon Raphael, who produced their first album. Raphael's production style is on full display here: the lyrics sound like they were recorded in a dark basement with equipment from the early part of the 20th century. The guitars are completely fuzzed out, the drums alternate between the sounds of a cheap drum machine and the first set of a small child.

With "Room on Fire," The Strokes do not try to change the things that have worked for them in the past. Rhythm takes center stage and the band is always in a hurry. As with "Is This It?," there is not a wasted note on the entire album. The first single off the album is the almost irritatingly catchy "12:15." The defining aspect of the track is the lead guitar section, in which the guitar has been made to sound like a synthesizer. The lyrics are standard Strokes fare: drinking, parties and wasting time.

The only song that breaks the traditional Strokes formula is the standout track "Under Control." For the first time on either album, the band slows the tempo and plays a song that, relative to the rest of their work, can almost be considered a ballad. Casablancas takes on the role of unrequited lover and seems to have a newfound sense of humility.

On "Is This It?," the band was hailed as the "next big thing" in music and judging by their brash lyrics, it was evident that they were well aware of it. The newfound humility can be found in lines like the opener to "Whatever Happened?," where Casablancas sings "I want to be forgotten, and I don't want to be reminded."

Other standout tracks include "Reptilia" and "The End has No End." Each features a blistering lead guitar while "The End-" returns to the guitar-mimicking-synthesizer sound of "12:15." When it hits the stands on October 28th, this will be the must have album of the year, from the band that continues to transcend the "garage rock" label to make amazing music.

Grade: A