By Nigel Packer BBC News Online

The band have a huge fanbase

BBC News Online listens in as rock giants Radiohead return with their sixth studio album, Hail To The Thief.

Radiohead remain the most enigmatic of bands.

Having pushed stadium rock to the limit over the course of three albums, they melted the whole lot down and started again sometime after the release of OK Computer.

Six years on there are few signs of normal service being resumed, although they have now conquered that irrational fear of plectrums.

Send us your views on the album

New album Hail To The Thief adds a healthy dose of guitars to the grainy electro experiments of recent years.

It also rediscovers some of the epic scope and melodic depth of their earlier work.

The result is an album of rich textures and dazzling, unexpected detail.

The Bends it clearly isn't. But to anyone who felt that rock music may have reached the end of the evolutionary road, it could be time to think again.

Nothing new to be done with guitar, bass and drums? Opening track 2 + 2 = 5 begs to differ. Crackling with an unhinged energy, it sweeps away Thom Yorke's sleepless drawl on a wave of spiralling guitars.

Yorke's moody persona is ever present

Sit Down Stand Up is an equally manic affair - man and machine fusing into one as Colin Greenwood's bass weaves around bubbling electronics. Not quite drum & bass, but possibly some kind of mutation.

The strong opening trio is completed by Sail To The Moon - Yorke's ghostly falsetto floating somewhere high above the piano chords.

Despite the bursts of bleak humour (song titles don't come much better than A Punch-Up At A Wedding), Yorke's famously gloomy temperament is much in evidence. If anything, it seems to be reaching heroic new levels.

As pop music in general becomes ever more mindlessly cheerful, Thom just keeps getting moodier, as if he is on a one-man mission to redress the emotional balance.

Where I End And You Begin - a distant, dreamier relation of an early U2 song - finds the singer at his most unsettling. Beginning harmlessly enough, the tone seems to darken as the song progresses.

"I will eat you alive," Yorke mutters away to himself at the finish, like someone you wouldn't sit next to on the bus.

The jury is still out on the band

Myxomatosis - with its fuzzy, complex riff - is set to become a favourite. And there are sparks of brilliance elsewhere - from the strangled-chicken guitars of Go To Sleep to the lovely multi-tracked vocals of I Will.

Not everything works so well, though. The turgid We Suck Young Blood may prove a whinge too far even for the diehards, while machine-made tracks like The Gloaming remain easier to admire than enjoy.

There There, by contrast, is a more familiar throwback - with its slow build-up of tension and sheets of clanging guitar. In the grand scheme of things it hardly qualifies as a stadium anthem. After what has gone before, it could almost be Livin' On A Prayer.

With The Bends and OK Computer entrenched among the great albums of recent years, history seems unsure what to make of Radiohead's subsequent work.

Are they musical pioneers, bravely pointing the way forward? Or just a gifted but reckless rock band, toppling over into self-indulgence?

Hail To The Thief - as sprawling as it is spectacular - never quite resolves those questions. But it certainly adds to the mystique.

Hail To The Thief is out on Parlophone Records in the UK on Monday, and in the US on Tuesday.

This debate is now closed. Please see below for a selection of your comments.

Among all other Radiohead albums since OK Computer, it takes a while to get used to the new sounds and melodies. However, my advice to all listeners is to listen to it a few times before judging. Only then you can start revealing the real quality of Radiohead's second best album after OK. You will never find another band so original but still thrilling and exciting nowadays.Great album.
Yaron, Israel

People seem to still be expecting Radiohead to be churning out the infectious and compelling music that filled up The Bends and OK Computer. Hail to the Thief, like their two previous is much more demure. There is (as always) a few instant attractions on the album (Myxamotosis for instance). In general though it is more of a grower from a band that are confident enough not to have shout for attention in their music. The more you listen to the album the more you will appreciate it.
Ian Davis, UK

There are many bands making a living sounding like Radiohead did in 1995. On Hail they've beaten the copycats at their own game. This band doesn't do a damn thing they don't want to. The only formula they stick to is not to stick to one. A new Radiohead album is worth looking forward to because you never know what you're going to get. Kudos boys.
Shaun, USA (from England)

A masterpiece no doubt. The boys have raised the bar again for all to strive for and do well to merely approach. Three times I gasped in awe on listening. I'm shaken to my bones.
Jerry Andrzejewski, USA

Excellent. It took a few listens but after the third or fourth time it really gets you. Best listened to in the dark, on headphones.
Graham Charlton, UK

The alternative name of the album is The Gloaming, the time of day when the light is slowly bled from the streets and the night begins to settle in. It is during this time that the album bears fruit, and it was during this time I gave it my first listen.

The guitars soar and groan like some enormous winged creature, whilst the percussion varies from a ghostly rhythm to manic explosions of noise. This is a great album, and a fantastic progression from their previous work. With every new album comes a new sound, and that is admirable in today�s sales-obsessed charts.
Chris, England

I was struck by 2+2=5. Then I discovered There There, and the rest of the album. Oh what a masterpiece. I think is going to be part of history.
Michele Bologna, Italia

I went to see Radiohead recently at the Waterfront here in Belfast. The excellent venue combined with a spell-binding performance left me drained, happy and somehow priviliged. I think the whole thing about Radiohead is "expect the unexpected". By not falling into some kind of rut or genre they have continued to confound their critics and delight their audience. By their continued re-invention of themselves they remain one of the most vibrant and exciting bands in the music industry. Long may it continue.
Joseph Murphy, Northern Ireland

It's not a matter of politics, or music; rather a place, and yorke is there. there, you can't try, can't re-adjust, nothing to adjust, only to exert. maybe, surely, yorke himself wouldnt feel assured, rather embarrassed, or even guilty, but he can't help it, so can't we, he wouldn't know what to say anyway, and he doesn't. dont tell me the way to the castle, just lend me your voice. and dont get so confused about words, it's not a misuse.
Dan Sigal, Israel

It's my Radiohead favourite album. The last track, Wolf at the Door, might be the best thing they've ever done - scary and funny at the same time.
Richard, Japan

The Bends was (in my opinion) the best album of the last decade. I liked it the first time I heard it and loved it the more I listened to it. Hail To The Thief is trying to take rock in a new direction, one that music critics might get, I am just a casual listener and this album is beyond me and it appears I am not alone. The whole weird elctronic noise factor is at times outright irritating (especially with headphones on)They've lost me on this one.
steve, Canada

Well what a pleasant surprise! Hail To The Thief can be summed up as a mix of everything that has gone before, but in the best of ways. After the huge jump forward of 'Kid A' and 'Amnesiac', it seems the group are re-assessing and re-confirming all they have achieved so far. What next?
Gareth, UK

This album reminds me of eating egg off a wooden spoon in the summer time. It's criminal that so many should attempt to critique it, when they have clearly never stepped outside the square. Welcome to Boston, it's snowing mincemeat.
Steve, New Zealand

I have waited for this album for a long time. Although I was expecting a return to form, ie the era of The Bends and OK Computer, I find that HTTT is more OK Computer mixed with bits of Kid A and Amnesiac. Long are the days gone of The Bends. But long live the days of guitar thrashing and some electronic involvement.
Terry, UK

Whilst other bands stick to an established form for most of their careers, Radiohead seem prepared to chop and change their own music a fair bit, irrespective of the complaining that a lot of fans have been doing over the past couple of years. Hail To The Thief is a pretty bold album in my opinion, as with Kid A and Amnesiac before it, and because it's bold, and because they're willing to experiment, it stands out amongst a lot of the albums released recently. We need more bands like Radiohead trying experiments and actually progressing instead of churning out album after album with exactly the same sound.
Philippe Norel-Wilson, Scotland

I really like this new album. True, it's not my favorite Radiohead album (I don't think Radiohead or anyone else will ever top OK Computer or The Bends), but there are some really solid tunes on this album. Where I End and You Begin is quickly becoming my favorite Radiohead song ever. There are some really brilliant things which Radiohead have done on this album and I like it. I should add that it would be nice if Thom Yorke would cheer up a bit some day. Sometimes I find it enjoyable, though, to listen to him wallow in despair. Great singer and songwriter.
Ben, USA

Despite the odd brilliant moment, the album is disappointing. It's not innovative, it's all been done before, by themselves and others. Just because it's weird doesn't mean its good. I just expected more from Radiohead.
Paul, UK

Lost it big time! This is bland and pretentious without the "grunt" of Pablo, Bends and O.K. Yeah the quality of musicianship is there, but the little vibe and creative energy is negated by a group of musicians attempting to be cleverer than they really are. The worst thing that ever happened to this band was being described as the new Pink Floyd. I think they really believed it and this is the unfortunate spin off, this fact augmented by their "opener" status on this summers festival circuit. It will keep the shoe staring masses happy for another four years!
Jamie, Scotland

Their best album since OK Computer. There, I've damned it with faint praise. Admittedly it is a good album but certainly not a great album and certainly not as good as any of their first three (and two of those were patchy). Like the last two albums, I find it hard to enjoy as I can't escape the feeling of disappointment knowing they are capable of so much more. After all, they have made the best single of all time in Creep and (one of) the best album(s) of all time in The Bends. Maybe I'm living in the past, maybe I like "songs" too much, maybe I should just live with it. After all they aren't making music for me personally to enjoy.
Murf, England

Having spent the last couple of weeks listening to There There on all the TV music channels, I've become totally addicted to its haunting charms. As with every Radiohead song, you have to give them a little time to work their magic. I've only had the album a couple of hours, and really haven't had a chance listening to the rest of the album as I still seem to be stuck on the ninth track (There There). I kind of agree with Howard Booth that 2+2=5 didn't sound too good the first time I heard it on Jools Holland, but you really get to love it after a couple of times on the album. Anyone who hated Kid A but loved the Bends and are not sure whether to try it, it's definitely worth a couple of listens. I can't wait to get home from work tonight and listen to it again.
Dirty Ari, UK

Hail To The Thief is the album Radiohead didn't release during their break, from 1998 to 2000. Musically, it's something between OK Computer and Kid A. Just when you start to feel they're going to rock & roll, all those bubbling weird electronic sounds appear again. It's a good album overall. But "just because it's good, it doesn't mean you'll like it".
Bruno Martins, Brazil

The album is really good. I am a fan of Radiohead because they always push the envelope. It was brave to follow OK Computer with Kid A, and that's what is missing from most other bands today. No one is willing to experiment. There is too much radio friendly stuff out there. The album is filled with some lovely melodies and it gets better with every listen.
John, UK

Exactly what constitutes "losing the plot"? It's as straight up as Radiohead are going to get, so people should just deal with it. Or would people rather they just did dull ballads a la Coldplay for the rest of their careers? Of course the album is a masterpiece - it's Radiohead, but even if it wasn't, that doesn't mean that they've gone mental or too far or whatever.

My advice? Just listen to the album a few times as a music lover, not as a critic, and you'll grow to love this record, in the same way that it took me about a whole month to fully realise the genius of Kid A. It takes time to get on Radiohead's "frequency" with each of their albums - granted, this is more accessible so it shouldn't take as long, but try to understand what the band are attempting to do with this record. I'm sure then you'll appreciate it. My opinion is that this is so far the best album of the year by far.
Julio Iglesias, UK

I've purchased the album today, but had the mp3s for several weeks and seen the new songs performed live. This is the most difficult, but ultimately most fullfilling Radiohead album to date. Virtually every song improves with every listen. I was impressed by the beautiful rawness of Elephant, but this where modern rock music is really at. Many people will never fully appreciate this work. but I don't mind, this is already close to being the best of the 600 albums I own.
Ian, UK

From what I've heard of the tracks so far, I like it. A lot. Every time you think they've settled into a new sound, they do something different, and that's part of their appeal. They could easily have stuck with the formula that got them famous with The Bends & OK Computer, but they haven't, and they're all the better for it.

Radiohead have always been fairly unfathomable, I don't think we'd have it any other way...
Ben W, England

Hail to the Thief is, in a word, excellent. Although it does return to Radiohead's roots, it retains what Radiohead is best at: experimentation. Not quite a turnaround for the band, it merely amalgamates previous work into an album that is subtly brilliant and will live on as some of the band's best work.

Ones to watch out for: Backdrifts, Go To Sleep, We Suck Young Blood, Scatterbrain.
Thom Earley, England

Excuse me? "The jury is still out on the band"!? Radiohead are without doubt the most important British band of the decade! The new album is fantastic, people seem to be missing the point, they don't want to return the sound from OK Computer!...what would be the point? It's been done...we move on...it's all about progression.
Colin Urquhart, Glasgow

It shows that the band are miles above anyone else...they dare to go places that other bands won't (because they fear it might upset record sales) ironically, it's done the opposite for them.

It annoys me though that others are comparing this album to their previous work...I don't think others should expect the past stuff or compare it because if you'd seen the transition from OK Computer to Kid A then you should take the hint!! You can't compare two completly different things, you can only contrast!
James P, UK

Well, I think it's a return to form. I've been listening to it for a few hours and backdrift and the gloaming start to grow on you. Overall it's a pretty good album. It probably won't reach the heights of OK computer. But it is good album all the same. I went to get this at midnight and it was well worth it.
Kevin Taphouse, United Kingdom

Tuned in to watch Jools Holland on Friday evening in great anticipation. What a let down, I won't be buying what sounded like a load of tuneless rubbish with lots of drumming thrown in. I'll dig out OK Computer and console myself with that.
Howard Booth, England

The album is fantastic! It's the culmination of everything they have done to this point. Taking the unique, but completely different sounds of The Bends, OK Computer and Kid A/Amnesiac and arranging them so that it all works together in RH's classic layered sound. They have once again created an album that is unlike any other you've heard. There's no denying that RH is making music in a way that few, if any, bands are capable of. Thanks again Radiohead!!
Craig, US

Having succumbed to temptation and been listening to a pre-mastered copy from the internet for the last few weeks I have to say that it's a brilliant balance of the old and new. Thom Yorke seems to have embraced the rest of the band again and the sum is definitely greater than the parts. This is more like the missing link between OK Computer and Kid A.
Tim Parkin, UK

Hail to the Thief certainly stands out as Radiohead's bravest work to date. Where previously they have been concerned with recording the freakish times around them (OK Computer) or running away into stratospheric dream-worlds (Kid A), now Radiohead have welded the two and created an album that is more brim-full of poppy hooks than recent work, yet still riddled with a scepticism and honesty about where music is really headed. Less of a look at a catastrophic future than previous work, and more of a cultural call-to-arms.
Tom Durno, England

I haven't heard the whole album but the few tracks aired so far don't sound promising. Radiohead are a band who got bored with what they were and tried unsuccessfully to be something they weren't. It makes me laugh how critics fawn over them at the risk of appearing un-hip. Why not be honest and just admit that they've lost it?
Martin Carroll, England

If anyone but Radiohead had released this album it would be unquestioningly hailed as a masterpiece. Give them a break!
Colin, England

Masterpiece or a lost plot? If this album is a plot lost I think that all bands should throw away their scripts. Bleedin' superb!
Richard Davies, UK

This is the new Radiohead at their finest. Whilst this album proves that they will never produce an album quite like The Bends again, it does prove that they can release albums every bit as good as their earlier classics. There are disappointing moments but these are interspersed between the enormous quality around them. Another brilliant Radiohead album.
Eoin Dempsey, Ireland

It's a masterpiece, duh. Just because the mainstream media's got impatient for them to go back in time and write an album's worth of Creep doesn't mean a thing. The trashing's inevitable when you cease to imitate yourself and innovate instead.
Arthur Taylor, USA / UK

Personally, this album has reconfirmed my faith in the band. After the wayward period that was the Kid A/Amnesiac sessions, Radiohead have found a way to meld both their (or rather, Thom's) desire to experiment and their ability to make timeless rock classics. Hail to the Thief isn't as Thom Yorke claims, OK Computer 2, but it's certainly worth a look if you found the majority of Kid A and Amnesiac hard to stomach.
Mike Sterry, UK

The album is ok, but not wonderful... Thom Yorke is just far too miserable for me to handle anymore...
Brian, Dublin

From haunting piano in Backdrifts to reminders of Knives Out in Scatterbrain, it's masterpiece all the way. The single There There is just a sniff of much much more from the album. Let the heathens have their manufactured band lame drivel and I'll keep HTTF, thanks all the same.
Ess, Oxford, UK

Hail To The Thief is a great album, It takes what the band have learnt throughout their career and mixes it all up to produce a piece of work which captures the spirit of the times. While we know this band can and will do better, this record will be the most interesting and thought provoking album to be released this year by quite some distance.
Ricci, UK

Its definately not another The Bends, or OK Computer. All the tracks (vocally and musically) sound way too similar. Not their best at a long shot. Some nice guitar effects used though, as always.
Toby, UK

Hang in there, it's a real grower! It's been on my iPod for a while now and whilst I was dubious at first now I love it, love it (to quote Kevin Keegan!)
Pen, UK

This is so engaging, listening to every nuance is a journey and it's an experience I've missed for so long. I just relish every listen of this album, Radiohead have probably achieved perfection for me, and I'm sure so many others. Favourite track? Sail to the Moon, a trippy, ghostly track that reminds me of a cross between Dream and Egyption Song. I LOVE THIS ALBUM! (sorry for the rant).
Alan Carter, England

Radiohead have definitely surpassed themselves again. The album clearly takes on board the epic guitar riffs on OK Computer and blends it perfectly with the experimental attitudes of Kid A and the jazz-esque nature of Amnesiac. It's a perfect capture of where the band are.
Ryan, N.Ireland

Return to form?!?! They were never out of form! Best band in the world releases surely one of the best albums of the year...stacked alongside all the other chart albums, it is a beacon of light for music fans everywhere...thank god for Radiohead.
Nav Singh, London, UK

It's not a masterpiece. It's probably their third best album - after Kid A and OK Computer. However they remain the only band around willing to innovate and challenge the mainstream. They are still the closest thing we have to a modern day Beatles!
CJ, UK

I was concerned that this was going to be a pale imitation of OK Computer but I'm pleasantly surprised. Both guitars and electronica feature in interesting and innovative ways and the vocal arrangements seem far more advanced than on previous albums. I think this does require a few more listens and it doesn't come across as such a quantum leap as The Bends or Kid A but so far the only weak link to my mind is "There there". Did they think this was the most commercial sounding track or are they just being perverse by putting this out as the single?
Rod Maxwell, Scotland

It is funny how some people say that you have to listen to it many times before you start to like it. You can get to like almost anything if you listen to it many times, even Kylie Minogue. The truth is that it is another disappointment, I was hoping for another OK but it is another piece of rubbish techno crap. I heard bits of it once in the record shop and I will never hear it again because that would be too much pain and suffering. I just hope that one day they will go back to their roots and give us another OK or Bends.
Tony, UK

This is the first album in years that I can play through its entire length and love the whole thing more and more. Its a wonderful album and creatively its far better than their first 3 albums. Its really saddens me how people whinge thats its not as good as Pablo Honey, The Bends or OK Computer. Pablo Honey is dodgy, The Bends is amazing for a 2nd album (but musically its pretty straight forward) and OK Computer was good but please, it was not a particularly important album. If you want to live in the past and listen to a few chords then fine. HTTT is far more important in my opinion.
Fierce Teapot, UK

Ugh! Yet more introspective guff.
Marc, Austria