louisvillescene.com: For more than a year, "How to Dismantle an Atomic Bomb" has been described in the music press by U2 as a return to classic form, an album stripped clean of contrivances. Bono has gone so far as to call it the band's "first album."
Given that 2000's "All That You Can't Leave Behind" was already a spectacular return to form, the bar was set unnaturally high. That may be why "Bomb" feels as if it starts not with a bang, but a whimper. Where's the high drama of "Bad," "Pride" or "Where the Streets Have No Name," those moments where Bono turns red-faced evangelical and the band is one big heartbeat? [
more]
Given that 2000's "All That You Can't Leave Behind" was already a spectacular return to form, the bar was set unnaturally high. That may be why "Bomb" feels as if it starts not with a bang, but a whimper. Where's the high drama of "Bad," "Pride" or "Where the Streets Have No Name," those moments where Bono turns red-faced evangelical and the band is one big heartbeat? [
more] 
