The fifteenth album from the Athens, GA veterans is one of their strongest and most cohesive efforts in several years.
The opening track "Discoverer" could have found a home on their 1988 release "Green" as the chords bring their classic "Turn You Inside-Out" to mind. The band rips into "All The Best" before letting off the gas a little to drop into the mid-tempo driver, "UBerlin," which is arguably their most memorable single in the post Bill Berry era.
Things slow down a bit with the ballads "Oh My Heart" and "Every Day Is Yours To Win" but the electronic drum machines have been replaced with drummer Bill Riefling (Ministry, Nine Inch Nails) so there is more of an organic feel to all of the songs on the album.
Other highlights include the infectious "Mine Smell Like Honey" and the vigorous "That Someone Is You" which is proof that in the case of R.E.M., you can still rock with relevance after thirty years.
"Collapse Into Now" harkens back at the some of the best highlights of the band's past while moving forward, as the band has nothing left to prove at this point in their career.
Showbiz Kids Ranking: 8.0 out of possible 10
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