U2 Carnaval de Luz Review: First New Songs in Nearly a Decade
U2's 16th studio album, Carnaval de Luz, is their first collection of new songs in almost a decade. With Larry Mullen Jr back on drums, early reviews hear a rejuvenated band, loud guitars and Brian Eno's synths, plus a tribute to Rosalía.
U2's Carnaval de Luz, their 16th studio album and first collection of new songs in almost a decade, earns a warm U2 Carnaval de Luz review verdict: rousing, restorative rock from a band that sounds ready to take on the world again. The album is released on the Island label.
Much of the lift comes from the lineup. Drummer Larry Mullen Jr is back behind the kit after medical issues, and the Dublin band sound audibly thrilled to be playing together in a room again.
A return to loud guitars
Bono has said the record's return to "loud guitars" was designed to bring about "a more defiantly joyful feel to take on these anxious times". The band had already aired their politics on the Days of Ash EP in February.
Opener Go (Carnaval de Luz) pairs electronically treated guitars and a pounding rhythm with Brian Eno's synths. Its manifesto is light in the darkness: "A carnival of light / Illumination is the way to fight this."
The album carries more spiritual references and metaphors than any U2 record in a long time.
Standout tracks
Street of Dreams has a hint of Where the Streets Have No Name in its guitars. La Reina, a monster rock riff, recalls Even Better Than the Real Thing before drifting into a hymnal mantra, with Bono singing "Nobody is alone, but nobody knows that."
If the World Is at War We Better Not Be opens with Bono recalling the band's start at Mount Temple comprehensive school in Dublin in 1976. It grows into a reflection on faith, belief and ordinary lives.
The Greatest Show on Earth, another Eno collaboration, takes on showbiz, organized religion, God and love. Its celestial guitar, bass and drums suggest a live anthem in the vein of With or Without You.
Punk, Rosalía and earnest Bono-isms
Silencio drives hard as a punk track. The Mirror Maker is an excitable call-and-response tribute to Catalan star Rosalía: "Rosalía make the world go away."
In Superficiality, Bono sings "Freedom is a feeling, it's a feeling that I have around you." Another lyric reads, "Don't you give up on your dream … and your dreams won't give up on you."
Not every track reaches the same height, the review concludes, but none lets the side down. U2's last 20 years brought turbulence, with attempts at pop, experiment, a Joshua Tree tour and the 2023 reworking Songs of Surrender. This record, by that account, finally uncorks something new.
