It’s all quintessentially Beastie Boys without feeling trapped by the past

While the Beastie Boys have always been an alternative and experimental force, Thank You pushes the limits as an entirely authentic and genuinely cool album that elevates Mike D’s stature from punky rap hooligan to electronic auteur.

The Beastie Boy strikes a reflective tone on a solo album made up of frenetic, funky glitch-rap-electro-punk beats reminiscent of his remixing work. Nothing quite sticks

Diamond has nothing to prove nowadays, which helps explain why this minor late-career coda mostly feels like a fun hobby project, good natured but lightweight. Print edition only

The pace slackens in the final third, but at its best - as on True Colors, in which a psych-soaked guitar solo is poured over clattering Dyke & The Blazers-style drums- Thank You effortlessly hauls you along. Print edition only

The first music from a surviving Beastie Boy since the death of Adam Yauch, Thank You finds a legend restless to go somewhere new

‘Thank You’ is a triumphant return to music for Mike D, a fairly smooth-sailing affair, but one that has plenty going on and packs a punch

Anyone expecting Mike D’s debut album to sound like the Beastie Boys without MCA and Ad-Rock may be disappointed, but Thank You is a breath of fresh air – a positive and forward-looking statement and a fresh start to build on, rather than just nostalgia for past greatness

There are a brace of dance bangers in ‘True Colours’ and ‘Crypto’, while the centrepiece of the album is the suite comprised of ‘Secrets Pt. 1’ and ‘Secrets Pt. 2’

Thank You may not always know when to stop, but it knows exactly what kind of record it wants to be and, more often than not, it gets there

The rap legend – with a little help from his kids – returns to the spotlight with the infectious energy of an upstart with nothing to lose

Delivered vocally in a manner that borders on a stream of consciousness, it’s almost as if he has his eyes rolled back in his skull, lost in the memories, overwhelmed by feeling. As the song fades to silence, the tears of grief have finally given way to a smile. It’s a masterstroke from an unretired MC

The vulnerability here only grounds the inventiveness of Diamond's brashly primitive multihyphenate sounds, and never smothers the manic, lo-fi funk that makes this such an addictive treat. Print edition only