…U2’s new album, How to Dismantle an Atomic Bomb [1]. It’s better than All That You Can’t Leave Behind, but is it really better than Joshua Tree?
Probably not, but it is the type of album that grows on you the more you hear it. In what has been touted as [2] “the most conspicuously Christian record U2 has released since October,” much is to be expected—and much is delivered. If not a Christian album per se, How to Dismantle an Atomic Bomb is surely a theistic journey. The closing “Yahweh” is most obvious, but there are more veiled Judeo-Christian references as well. I finally realized after about the fifth listen that the song “All Because of You” was a song directed toward the Creator–“I AM.”
From a band that’s been all over the map spiritually, this is a move in the right direction. No, it doesn’t present a plan of salvation—but it is refreshing to hear a band acknowledge something other than themselves for once. For a thorough review, see Jeffrey Overstreet’s take [3].