"...but AM finds Arctic Monkeys revisiting Humbug's darker hues. And although Homme's input this time is restricted to two vocal cameos, on One for the Road and Knee Socks, his influence is evident throughout much of the first half of the record: last year's stop-start, Tracy Island-referencing single "R U Mine?"pummels away remorselessly; the bridge of Arabella keeps threatening to break into Black Sabbath's War Pigs. Opener "Do I Wanna Know?", meanwhile, is built on guitarist Jamie Cook's slow, monolithic riff, Turner's words of unrequited lust ("I'm sorry to interrupt, I'm just constantly on the cusp of trying to kiss you/I don't know if you feel the same as I do") offset by handclaps and QOTSA-style falsetto backing vocals.

But the return to the heavy-rock dynamics of Humbug is only half the story of AM. There's another notable influence at play here that is even further removed from their early material. Given that indie is a genre that doesn't always embrace musical miscegenation, Turner no doubt caused consternation among the more conservative elements of his fanbase earlier this summer when he told NME that they had attempted to make an album that sounded "less like four lads playing in a room this time" and citing Dr Dre as a reference point."   

- Phil Mongredian, The Guardian