This is it. This really is the one: the killer comeback R.E.M.'s long-suffering original fans have been hoping for since the band detoured into electronic introspection in 1998. Peter Buck's guitars are front and centre, driving the tracks rather than decorating their edges. Mike Mills can finally be heard again on bass and backups. Stipe's vocals are as rich and complex and scathing as ever, but for the first time in a decade he sounds like he believes every word. And finally, at long last, it feels like a human being is manning the drums again. It's exuberant, angry, joyous, wild - everything the last three albums, for all their deep and subtle rewards, were not. Superficially, this feels like the true successor to "New Adventures in Hi-Fi", or what that album itself might have been had the band bunkered down in the studio for a month rather than putting down tracks on the road. But in reality it's better. Ten years of studio-based experimentation and tweaking a new line-up have paid off. Tight, rich and consummately professional, the immediate loose-and-live feel of "Accelerate" is deceptive. This really is an exquisitely crafted album that repays close listening, just as the last three did for those of us who bothered. The crucial difference is that it ultimately feels less studied, less worried-over, less cautious - because it doesn't need to be. The band sound present, engaged, completely confident in their direction and abilities. Best of all, they sound like they're enjoying themselves again. And that joy is irresistible. No matter what your view of the last three albums (I liked them all), you've got nothing to complain about here. This kind of music really is what R.E.M. do best, and they deliver it in spades.

(P.S. Make sure you grab the non-album track "Redhead Walking" from iTunes: a great novelty song and surely destined for a Tarantino film soundtrack.)

Being counted out is possibly the best thing that could have happened to this band, as 28 years into their illustrious career, when R.E.M. had been relegated to being called a 'great band' in the past tense, the band have come out swinging on Accelerate. NEVER has a band this long in the tooth made such an angry, vital, and totally contemporary and relevant record. This is album is indeed a complete 180 turn from Around the Sun. It clocks in at half the time of the previous record; the drums are FINALLY back and in full force, Peter's guitar is fully plugged in, and Mike Mills' is finally harmonizing again. And lest I forget, Michael Stipe's voice sounds utterly fantastic. Just listen to him 'wow' and 'ow' on Man Sized Wreath and yoyu can tell, Michael's playful sarcasm is in full swing, and he sounds absolutely energized, whereas he sounded tired on the last record.

The songs are short and hit like a ton of bricks. If anyone remembers the anger on The Final Straw from the last record, well this album is like a full album's worth of that song with the amps turned way up and the songs at full speed. Living Well Is The Best Revenge is the best and loudest opener since Whats the Frequency Kenneth or maybe even Finest Worksong. Man-Sized Wreath is an unconventional but totally catchy rocker and Michael sounds absolutely fantastic and pissed off and Mike Mills backing vocals are terrific! 'Supernatural Superserious' sounds like the closest thing to a classic R.E.M single on this record. It may not be the best song here, but it is definitely the most conventionally catchy song to be found here. Hollow Man follows and sounds like a total piano ballad until suddenly, the guitars come in. What a great fake out on the band's part and it sounds like it would be a great single. 'Houston' sounds like it would fit perfectly on Automatic for the people; very folksy...reminds me a lot of Try Not to Breathe musically. "Until The Day Is Done' is another folksy ballad that sounds like it would have been perfect on Automatic...it also sounds a lot like Swan Swan H from Lifes Rich Pageant. Its one of my favorites on the record and if it weren't so openly political, it would make for a great single. 'Horse To Water' is just pure adrenaline and definitely one of the best full on rockers the band has made in a long time. I know it sounds like repetition but its very angry, and definitely a bruiser. Im Gonna DJ is a full on glam stomper that the band played on the last tour. Its a really fun post apocalyptic that not quite as Its the End of the World, but almost as fun and inspired nonetheless and its a perfect closer to the record.

Anyone accusing the band of making this record to satisfy record company execs, would be absolutely wrong. On the contrary, the majority of the songs are so openly political, that Top 40 will not likely touch them at all (if U2 cant get on the radio, R.E.M. wont either). R.E.M. seems to be reaching back into the ire and anger of their indie IRS days, as this sounds more like an updated 'Lifes Rich Pageant' and 'Document' than it does any of their Warner Brothers records (with Monster being the exception) as it rocks aplenty, and it is a very righteously angry album except now the anger is placed in the Bush administration and not the Reagan administration as it was in their indie days. But, rest assured, this is not a nostalgic record. It is definitely firmly placed in the here and now. Also like Lifes Rich Pageant, this album is a solidly good album all the way through, without there necessarily huge singles waiting to be plucked out. There is nary a bad track on here. It is not QUITE classic album in the vein of Murmur or Automatic...but it is indeed a necessary and much needed addition to their discography and their best album since at least New Adventures in Hi Fi. R.E.M. are back and they're coming out swinging!

All R.E.M. fans seem to have a phase that they like the most (many in fact, do not like the other stages very much at all). Some favor the band during their I.R.S. days, when they were the smallest big band in America. These people were smallish in number, but obsessive and loyal in nature. They wondered what a "Harborcoat" was and were shocked when the actual lyrics of the song "Fall on Me" were shown in the video.

Then, on a major label and with a wah-wah pedal (or maybe a mandolin) R.E.M. became the rock superstars that everyone knew. The band, as Kurt Cobain said, handled their success like saints, turning down millions to not let their songs be used by Bill Gates, and refused to make the same album twice to cash in on their massive popularity.

Yet, with any success comes a backlash, and with 1994's Monster, many fans of both eras began to drift away. By 1997, with the departure of Bill Berry, the band moved into another era. One that found the band trying to figure out a direction to go which could, somehow, tie everything together on a collective positive level.

Accelerate is the music of a band who has found that path. It will not bring back the Murmur/Reckoning faithful. It will not sell like Out of Time. Perhaps, one day, more music fans will like the studio sounds of the last three records. It is not like those albums either.

What Accelerate is, is R.E.M. phase four music. Alive and vital in 2008. A record that will have its fans and critics, but signifies the beginning of a new era in the bands history. One that by looking forward, also can reach back, where fans of all three groups might find key elements that represent why they became fans to begin with. It also deserves to make its fair share of new ones.

First of all I need to say that I am not a hater of the late period REM. Though the recent albums haven't been classics, they have featured some of the best songs REM has made. Accelerate reminds me of Lifes Rich Pageant and Fables with a little bit of Automatic mixed in. My favs are Hollow Man, Until the Day is Done and Houston. Great rocking album. Keep it coming guys, you are on a roll.

I've followed the music of REM since their first US top 10 single "The one I love", but I really became a fan after the release of their 1994 "Monster" album (with great songs like "Tongue", "What's the frequency Kenneth" and "Crush with eyeliner"). That was about the time I was also getting into The Cranberries, 10,000 Maniacs, and The Smiths, opening my musical palette to include indie music but I digress.

Accelerate (their fourteenth album) is a return of sorts to their earlier sound and like its name, is a full throttle ride of jaggedly energetic songs. The album is produced by Garret Lee, who has also produced albums for a pair of my favourite British indie bands; Editors and Bloc Party.

At just over thirty minutes, the disc cuts right to the chase, with the exception of the epic ballad "Sing for the submarine" which is almost 5 minutes long. There's the sweaty shouty opening rocker "Living well is the best revenge", the sunny yet melancholic lead-off single "Supernatural superserious", the bouncy "Horse to water" (with a rapid-fire vocal delivery and a great chorus), the brief "Houston" (which references what must be the most popular hurricane in music history; Katrina), and the brilliant groovy "I'm gonna DJ" (with great Woo hoos), my favourite!

Title track "Accelerate" does just that, an urgent indie number, while taking inspiration from George Bush (no less) is "Man-sized wreath" (taking a dig at a clumsy stage-managed appearance by Bush at last year's Martin Luther King day celebrations - "A pageantry of empty gestures, all lined up for me" sings Stipe). "Until the day is done" is a jangly acoustic song that reminds me a bit of John Lennon's "Working class hero".

The album has already topped the UK charts (their seventh #1 There) and given them (at #2) their highest charting US album in almost 12 years. A welcome return from Michael Stipe and the lads.