June 10th. That's when quite possibly the most influential bands in the last 10 years will drop their new release Hail to the Thief. Many are curious I'm sure, which Radiohead to expect--the one who rocked ferociously on The Bends, and O.K. Computer, or the one who all but abandoned conventional music on Kid A and Amnesiac? The answer to that question is both. Thief opens with a song called 2 + 2 = 5 which starts with singer Thom Yorke repeating the icy Kid A-esque litany "January brings April Showers, and two and two always makes a five." And just when he strains the words "it's too late now...." Radiohead burst into the most rocking song I've heard all year. Guitars are everywhere. And Thom Yorke's voice is not only audible, but once again crafting the kind of melodies we'd come to expect before his lengthy hiatus into the realm of experimental mumbles and howls.

You're not going to hear a song like "Fake Plastic Trees" on Thief, but it represents a solid return to form nonetheless. Tracks like "Go to Sleep," "Where I End and You Begin," and first single "There There," are very OK Computer. They are trying new things too, which I have to commend. "We Suck Young Blood" is very Tom Waits with bizarre handclaps and strange vocals, and "A Wolf at the Door" even finds Yorke rambling like a folk rocker. Both Kid A and Amnesiac had their moments, but Hail to the Thief is like recovering something very valuable that had been stolen.