Accelerate, the first studio album in four years from R.E.M., finds modern rocks most acclaimed band returning to the strippeddown, guitar-driven power that first enraptured fans. Helmed by the band and, for the first time, Jacknife Lee (co-producer of U2s 05 Grammy Album Of The Year How To Dismantle An Atomic Bomb, The Hives, and Snow Patrol), Accelerate puts the 2007 Rock And Roll Hall Of Fame group once again firmly behind the wheel of alternative rock, a genre R.E.M. helped invent.
Spin (p.95) - 4.5 stars out of 5 -- "ACCELERATE corrals 35 minutes of the fastest songs Stipe and Co. have written in decades, all performed with a sense of joyous purpose..."
Entertainment Weekly (p.60) - "[Buck is] playing aggressively melodic riffs again, yet they're full of contemporary crunch and compression..."
Uncut (p.80) - 3 stars out of 5 -- "[T]he denseness suits REM, reconstructing their trademark intricate hedge of sound..."
Q (Magazine) (p.99) - 4 stars out of 5 -- "[T]his is an album so drenched in exuberance and flair that it suggests pop's youth fetish is no substitute for experience."
Mojo (Publisher) (p.98) - 4 stars out of 5 -- "This is rock, not pop....This is the sound of R.E.M. going into the studio, plugging in and playing songs naturally...and very loudly."
Blender (Magazine) (p.78) - 3.5 stars out of 5 -- "[F]ull of cascading jangle, candied power chords, lonesome harmonies, Southern-gothic protest poetry and roadhouse drum bash."
Pitchfork (Website) - "ACCELERATE's broad strokes, big riffs, and beefy production are admirable....Drummer Bill Rieflin plays with a Ministry-honed power, Mike Mills' backing vocals are absolutely key..."
