U2 – How to Dismantle an Atomic Bomb Review

Long-suffering U2 fans may be waiting for another album as interesting or relevant to the times as How to Dismantle an Atomic Bomb. You can wait a little longer. How to Reassemble an Atomic Bomb, the so-called shadow album to the studio release from twenty years ago is on the horizon. With the context of those additional songs, it feels almost necessary to head back into How to Dismantle an Atomic Bomb, to reflect on the rock makings and staggering cultural message it had at a time of wavering peace in places we expected calm from. But no, the world has always been a warzone and the rise of tech to showcase this for us has been a miserable experience – not least because it continues but also due to how frequently we see it. This was not the point U2 made with How to Dismantle an Atomic Bomb but it has morphed into something new, something pertinent once again.  

Such is the case for many Bono songs though his perception in the public sphere has soured. Bono and the band seek out a harsher sound, this demand to “turn it up,” as opener Vertigo so cleanly does. It hits better than All That You Can’t Leave Behind which has a scrubbed feeling to it, still interesting but an album which pales in comparison to the more pertinent, socially aware and conscious experience of How to Dismantle an Atomic Bomb. Gunfire, explosions and the troubles we dance against are all featured in this first track – a cornerstone of the rest of the album but best experienced on the guitar-heavy tricks of this album’s opener. Their first true rock album is a blinder. Straight to the point and still brutal, but not without its shortcomings. A part of it feels vapid, The Edge and the minimalist guitar noise rock approach is decent but lacks the depths which benefit earlier works from the band.  

Miracle Drug is the crux of the problem, but quite the experience even now. Bono pursues undeveloped ideas not to provide them with a finishing line but for the sake of charting them in the moment. Those rock platitudes may tire after a while but they provide a crucial part of the U2 spirit, something which has challenged listeners for the last two decades. Through revisionist rot of their latest works to the “love and logic” Bono is clinging to on How to Dismantle an Atomic Bomb, the band uses many of these songs for nothing more than a message. But the message is strong, in line with the Bono experience many still appreciate. Camaraderie is the key to many of these songs of flexible meaning. Sometimes You Can’t Make It on Your Own is serviceable pop rock but the unwavering emotional scope within bolsters it and the band.  

Stripped-back materials are of interest here, particularly Love and Peace Or Else. Bono and the band are left demanding serenity but know they will not get it. Look at the last twenty years. We never got it. Soft rock tones, as catchy as they are, were never going to solve the crises of the world but they certainly make us feel better about trying. Those flat tones become tiresome but for a bit of background noise, an album not to be repeated but played through a few times, it is not bad. U2 should never have associated themselves with the top of the pop ladder because it reduces the impact of their sound at times of inherent strife. How to Dismantle an Atomic Bomb has promises of masterful deconstruction, of this worldwide call to arms for the sake of peace. But the resulting tracks are soft, sometimes pitiful like the steady love-wrapped City of Blinding Lights. 

And yet for all those tones of light charm, there are more than a few songs which stand out as bold and often necessarily punchy, still-relevant accomplishments. There is nothing wrong with light rock and perhaps it is our perception of U2 single-handedly spotlighting themselves as the men to bring peace in the nuclear age, but the route to it is not soft rock. How to Dismantle an Atomic Bomb begins to feel the weight of what some would call the Messiah image for Bono. Irrespective of what he believes is the right route through the world, some slick lyrical points and some rather feverish guitar work from The Edge on the likes of All Because Of You, while not spectacular, do enough to stand out. An album of few moments but an enjoyably light overall experience, though given the heavy subject and context of the times, it feels more like an escape than a rallying cry.