Released 18th March 2011 by Radiohead.

Chart Performance: Despite a convoluted multi-stage multi-format release The King Of Limbs still reached number no.7 in the UK and charted well across the globe. The hugely popular vinyl addition accounted for 12% of all vinyl sales from January through March.

What The Critics Said: “A strong emphasis on ambient electronics connects this set to the more experimental strain of Radiohead music that emerged with the 2000 album, “Kid A.” Los Angeles Times

Radiohead are now so well respected that they could release an album of Rihanna covers and people (myself included) would probably still buy it. In other words, they don’t really need to continue to make great music but they do, and for that I am thankful.

The King of Limbs’ was released unexpectedly; its existence announced just five days before its scheduled release, with it ultimately being delivered a day early. Anticipation and buzz were high and fans were in suspense hoping that it would live up to the hype. For some it did, for others it didn’t. It wasn’t In Rainbows Pt. 2, as perhaps some people were expecting and being comprised of only 8 tracks (less than 40 minutes in length in total) some listeners found it underwhelming. Indeed, many die-hard Ateasweb dwellers were developing theories about why a “second half” would be upon us any day now. But it never came and fans were forced to accept that this was the album, anti-climax or no.

I’ll admit that on first listen The King of Limbs didn’t bowl me over (and I’ll also admit that for the first three seconds I thought I’d accidentally downloaded “Tubular Bells”), but I still enjoyed it for something other than the simple fact that it was a new Radiohead album. After multiple listens, however, the album did start to develop more meaning for me, and with every listen I put in I felt I was getting more out of it.

A different beast to In Rainbows, the record is in some ways more musically similar to the band’s Kid A and Amnesiac era, though not to the extent that it feels like they’re going backwards. In fact, the opposite is true: this album is progression; evidence that Radiohead are continuing to evolve in a way that many bands on their eighth album would not. For the most part the songs are not overly complex in structure and use layers to great effect, which is, to a degree, why the album holds up so well after repeat plays. Much of the record is driven by clever beats with subtle clean guitar lines that build and overlap, allowing Thom Yorke’s vocals to frequently take centre stage. Openers Bloom and Morning Mr Magpie are a great heavy-hitting combo to introduce the record, before the more delicate Little By Little, possibly the best individual song of the eight, is delivered. The intricate percussion arrangements break only for the penultimate tracks, the beautiful piano-led Codex and the gentle Giving Up the Ghost, which offer a nice change of pace.

This album is an unassuming, quiet gem – just good musicians making good music without any hidden agenda. For the band it is perhaps at times more of a curse than a blessing that they have such an acclaimed back catalogue, as it forms a tough context for all their future releases to be judged in. If this was a debut album from a new band it may have been hailed as a classic, but instead it could just end up being a forgotten addition to Radiohead’s fantastic body of work. For me its further evidence that Radiohead are still one of the most exciting bands that the UK has to offer. Hannah Watts