For every landmark U2 album, there is a reiteration; every step forward is followed by a holding pattern. After 1987′s The Joshua Tree, which found just the right balance of two-fisted rhythms and gauzy atmospherics, came the halting Rattle and Hum. In 1993, Zooropa followed its experimental predecessor, Achtung Baby, a little further down the rabbit hole. And now 2000′s back-to-basics All That You Can’t Leave Behind is followed by How to Dismantle an Atomic Bomb, which digs even deeper into the band’s own catalog for inspiration.
Atomic Bomb kicks off with the raucous “Vertigo,” which tosses a half-dozen U2 classics into the shredder and sprays ‘em on the nightclub wall; it’d be the perfect song to sell the mix-and-match MP3 aesthetic even if those iPod commercials hadn’t made it ubiquitous. The first half of the album follows suit with instantly memorable gems that explore the band’s dynamics in predictable – if powerful – ways. “Sometimes You Can’t Make It On Your Own” is an elegy in the “One” mold, “Love and Peace or Else” could have sprung from 1997′s Pop, and “City of Blinding Lights” and “All Because of You” amp up the familiar whirring blur of Edge’s guitars until they sing like it’s 1987 all over again.
Atomic Bomb’s latter half is both more adventurous and less immediate. “A Man and A Woman” and “Crumbs From Your Table” benefit from a touch of R&B, but “Yahweh” is a little too slight for its spiritual ambitions. “One Step Closer” is one of several tracks that touch on the death of lead singer Bono’s father; if the album has a theme, it’s of the relationship between parents and children – including, as always with U2, God and man. Best of all is “Miracle Drug,” which finds Bono singing soulfully about cerebral palsy-stricken Irish author Christy Nolan – while keeping his lyric ambiguous enough to make its sense of hopeful frustration universal. “The songs are in your eyes/I see them when you smile,” he sings, as bass player Adam Clayton and drummer Larry Mullen, Jr., kick in hard behind him and Edge sends peals of guitar shooting into the clouds.
It’s the kind of high drama U2 do better than anyone, and they’ve never done it any better than this. A little bit more adventure would be nice next time around, but in its best moments, Atomic Bomb is one hell of a holding pattern.

– Chris Neal