"Bury the Hatchet", the fourth major Cranberries CD, is a unique look into their music. It demands several listenings, before it can be appreciated. The music is truly different, not only from other artists, but from previous Cranberries albums as well. It's not that The Cranberries have taken a musical 180, its just that their presentations have changed. Completely secure in their ablilties, they do not seek to fit an image, and this album proves it! Don't get me wrong though, this is a really good album. Power songs like "Promises" back against the beautiful "Shattered". The album is worth getting just to hear Dolores O'Riordan-Burton's incredible and beautiful voice! It sends chills running everywhere, and is completely her own. At first, you may not completely love it if you are not a die hard Cranberries fan...but be patient, the music is worth it!

Even though the early work of the cranberries is some of the best music ever seen by the pop scene, "Bury The Hatchet" prooves to be the best yet. Them album opens with the catchy "Animal Instinct", a song about a new mother's feeling for her baby son. Other tunes on BTH that will surely become some of your favorites are "You and Me" which sounds something like a lullabye with a beat, "Just My Imagination" is the band's latest single, and "Dying In The Sun" where the lead singer Miss Dolores O'Riordan-Burton finally shows off her vocal range. The cranberries rock the free world!

After listening to our formerly beloved revolutionary sweetheart's (free cigar for the first person to name that band reference) latest little LP, Bury the Hatchet, through and through, the most prominent thought that kept surfacing in my mind towards the end of "Dying in the Sun" was "I waited three years for this! "

One of the things that had always attracted me to The Cranberries, besides Dolores O'Conner's wistful, ethereal vocals, was their dedication to reinvent themselves with each new album. They went from hot alt-rock Irish import playing their winsome acoustic numbers on "Everybody Else is Doing It..." to more introspective and politically charged rockers, the hint surfacing with the vitriol in the grungy single "Zombie" from "No Need to Argue" before evolving to its logical course in "To the Faithful Departed," which I thought was their finest work. Following that albums release there were some internal tensions in the band that at once threatened to break them up, which in retrospect would have been the best thing that would have happened. That way I could have remembered them as casualties of their own ambition instead of meek sell-outs with "Bury the Hatchet."

The Cranberries have never been a critical favorite, and the backlash on "To the Faithful Departed" reached its zenith, critics chiding them for being pretentious and naïve. Perhaps the criticism was deserved, but apparently it scared The Cranberries straight. You wouldn't know from the Pink Floyd-esque album cover, which had me excited at the prospect of listening to some grandiose concept album with the band having learned from their previous hits and misses. Unfortunately, the cover was the most novel thing about "Bury the Hatchet"; underneath it was a totally immaculate body of inane power pop. Gone are the punkish trappings and earnest, if a little misguided, pronouncements of "To the Faithful Departed," instead, there are formulaic melodies and more of O'Conner's open-diary lyrics with some calculated personal themes and rhyming structures. In short, nothing that they haven't done before, and done far better. "Bury the Hatchet" is such a contrived album that I could almost smell the desperation in the band to return to their beloved post as Irish alt-rock darlings and escape derision from long-time fans and critics.

I guess the gambit paid off, considering their high sales and the gushing praise from all these 5-star fans. Reviews from the professional press now tended to be polite and dismissive. I know that I've dismissed "Bury the Hatchet" from my collection---other fans may have wanted "Everybody Else is Doing it... Part II," but for me, it's too big a step backward. I tried to let "Bury the Hatchet" grow on me, but with each new listen, it sounded as glossy and artificial as before. Finally I couldn't stand it contaminating my CD collection anymore, and pawned it off in favor of a used copy of Joan Osborne's "Relish." One of the wisest swaps I've ever made, I might add.

This album makes me proud that I stuck by the Cranberries when critics and so called 'fans' blasted the band after its previous album: To The Faithful Departed. Honestly, that album isn't their best album but you can't call it bad. Bury the Hatchet on the other hand is top quality.It reminds me of the much loved first album,which is my favourite. Just slighty not as high standard. Animal Instinct, Just My Imagination and My Saving Grace particularly refreshes my memory. If you like the first two albums. I urge you to buy this.

While I generally do reviews on albums I really like, I thought I'd switch the tables and review an album I really dislike. Mind you, I am a big Cranberries fan, and have seen them in concert a number of times over the years. When I bought this album and listened to it, I couldn't quite believe what I heard. Save perhaps for "Promises", there really isn't quite a memorable tune that I really enjoyed after listening to it. Whatever happened to Dolores' muse? OK, she's a happy mom now, but I linger for the strength of songs found on, say, "No Need to Argue". Don't buy this CD. Cranberries have a lot to offer, but it sure doesn't show on this CD.