Grade: C- | Genre: Modern Rock
Summary: I can only hope that after the excessive noodling and doodling they have served up this time, this once-impressive, fun, up-tempo bunch of guys can get back to what they do so well...writing catchy, memorable tunes.

All the hubbub that surrounded The Strokes sophomore release, Room On Fire, for being too short in length seems to have weighed heavy on the bands tousled heads. On the group's latest and least interesting album, First Impressions Of Earth, Singer/Songwriter Julian Casablancas has penned 14 new tunes almost as if to silence former critics. Nice try.

Apparently for The Strokes, more is less. What was once a very cool sound (as New York as the band The Velvet Underground from whom they take nearly every cue) has been chucked in an attempt to mature and expand their horizons. They have only made it clearer how good the last release really was.