Favourite Worst Nightmare

What to do if your first record becomes the fastest-selling album in UK chart history? If you're the Arctic Monkeys, you don't sweat it – you just swagger back with a follow-up, Favourite Worst Nightmare, that pulls the same old tricks with a few new twists. But even as "Balaclava" and "Do Me A Favour" bandy along with that familiar mix of provincial Everyman lingo, spat rap cadence, and scuzzy guitars, Favourite Worst Nightmare is shot through with the prevailing feeling this is the sound of consolidation, not retread. So, what's new? Well, there's evidence of a heavier edge here – lead-off single "Brianstorm" veritably tears along, all galloping drums, strafing guitar lines and blistering bons mots: "Can't take my eyes off yer T-shirt and tie combination," spits Alex Turner, "Well see ya later, innovator". Like the White Stripes, though, Arctic Monkeys invest their cranked garage with splashes of melodic invention – see how "If You Were There" veers between jerky riffs and Hall Of Mirrors weirdness. And it doesn't let up from beginning 'til end – or at least 'til the closing "505", a departure lounge lament that's downbeat and tired, like conquering the world finally took its toll. --Louis Pattison

Favourite Worst Nightmare is everything you hoped Arctic Monkeys would do next. Not so much a sequel as an upgrade, a breakneck technicolour journey through screwball punk and guitar-fuelled dancefloor heroics, it's very, very fast and very, very loud; a brilliant racket that proves there's infinitely more to Arctic Monkeys than writing pretty little ditties, yet at the same time boasting some of the strongest songs they've ever written.

You could never accuse Arctic Monkeys of making anything easy for themselves. Their debut album `Whatever People Say I Am, That's What I'm Not', topped every end-of-year poll going, and became the fastest-selling debut in British chart history. Those are just the facts. But revolutions are about more than mere facts; and this rewired a generation, broke the boundaries between the moshpit and the dancefloor, invalidated the whole concept of celebrity culture to become that rarest of things, a smash hit with its soul intact. Most bands take years to whip up that sort of acclaim.

How could even these four talented young men hope to follow that? Forgive us for stating the obvious, but you go and make a better one. Arctic Monkeys had actually started work on `WPSIA,TWIN' with Simian Mobile Disco's James Ford and Mike Crossey, before they'd really become producers du jour, but for one reason or another, the sessions were abandoned and the job was completed by Jim Abiss. But sensing kindred spirits - and with a renewed sense of confidence in their instincts after everything went so spectacularly right first time - they returned to their old mentors, whose star had risen in line with their own over the previous two years. "I think it was very obvious from when we did that first session that it was sound with them," affirms Alex, "they understood it." "And," adds Jamie, "they're not much older than us really."

After locking themselves away from the world first time round, the band decided to record in Miloco Studios in Shoreditch, East London, "getting all new rave in East London," says Matt, slyly. The experience saw them embrace full flow of the city, going out, living life and even having a bit of a party. "I think you can really hear it in the snare sound!" jokes Matt, but he's closer to the truth than he thinks.

The other big change within the ranks of Arctic Monkeys was the introduction of old friend Nick O'Malley on bass halfway through last year. This, too, was taken in everybody's stride. "I'd known them all since I was 10 years old," says Nick of his new bandmates. "We've all lived in the same area, so it wasn't like coming into a band where I didn't know what they'd be like. It's just been a laugh really, it's been fine."

ARCTIC MONKEYS Favourite Worse Nightmare (Factory Sealed 2007 UK 12-track CD album - Those Sheffield Monkeys are back with the follow-up to their record-breaking 2006 debut Whatever People Say I Am Thats What Im Not which produced by duo James Ford [The Klaxons Mystery Jets] & Mike Crossey [Echo & The Bunnymen The Coral] features trademarks such as haunting melodies and worst favourite dream characters and includes the singles Brianstorm & Fluorescent Adolescent presented in a very attractive & playful six panel digipack complete with a 12-page picture booklet)