Change has come in the YYY world. Nick Zinner subdues his punk-pop guitar licks to accommodate the band's (temporary, I think) new synthesizer fad. "Zero" is a perfect example of the new sound: it rocks pretty hard, but in a much different way than Fever To Tell and Show Your Bones did. Besides the heavy use of synths, it's a little less up front and more thought out. The new album uses a wide range of other instruments besides the usual three to distinguish the tracks from each other: twittering (no pun intended) flute on "Soft Shock", piano on slow tune "Runaway", diverse Zinner guitar ("Dragon Queen" is a lesson in guitar layering), and a few other surprises. The drums fit extremely well and Karen O does an impressive job vocally and lyrically. In "Zero" she sounds pretty sassy as usual in her own special Karen O way, but on the love song "Hysteric" she sounds like Amy Milan or something. Lyrically, the songs are a little less up front, something I thought was just Karen O's style. Any way you look at it, it's a sweet compliment to their previous two releases.

The goods:

Stream "Heads Will Roll" and others

It's Blitz! is out 4/14 via Interscope. (I'm not going to sticker it)