Doubles down on synthesizers and chokes out their previous sound; most of the album ends up sounding the same

The fifth album from Dublin’s Fontaines D.C. trades post-punk for polished pop-rock jams

If you've already started building your AOTY list but haven't listened to Dopamine Chamber yet, make sure you leave a slot open

Dark, daring and decidedly enthralling, Fontaines D.C.'s fifth album Dopamine Chamber is the sound of a band completely in a league of their own

A mirror to our times casting back a stark, frightening image

Fifth album finds Dublin quintet sounding grandiose and exhilarating, evolving while refusing to compromise any of their identity

Dopamine Chamber in three words, then. Should do better

Both in terms of indie rock writ large and the band’s own artistic development, the Dubliners’ latest isn’t nearly as revolutionary as 2024’s Romance

Grian Chatten and co swap guitars for icy synths and confront a world of endless conflict, digital dependency and creeping despair

Even with just one spin, it becomes evident that the album seems more like three distinct EPs, and one single, that have been collected. This might seem a weird way of assessing music, but the album clearly shifts gears after every three songs

Balances profound cynicism and genuine beauty as its ice-hearted stadium rock grows to darkly apocalyptic proportions

As they fine-tune their stylistic evolution, the perfect balance is yet to be discovered

Dopamine Chamber is larger than life in a way that very few bands can achieve, and although it dives into feelings of digital isolation, it manages to feel like a collective experience

Dopamine Chamber is no different; while not too far removed from the sonic sensibilities of Romance, the darker tone and existential themes keep the band's meditations on the modern world as potent as ever

The Irish band's fifth album is a synth-heavy reinvention, jagged and unnerving at multiple turns

The band incorporates a great many influences, but they make everything their own distinct sound. It is an album of discovery and gets better with each spin on the turntable

A wrecking ball of innovation that proves the band are a power unto themselves, and each new challenge posed by the release of a new album continues to draw out their undeniable genius

Dopamine Chamber sounds like a busted limbic system that forces you to let all of the emotions hit you at once

If Romance was the first time Fontaines D.C. raised their head over the parapet, Dopamine Chamber is the storming of the Winter Palace. It is the absolute victory we always dream of, when the outsiders take over

Incredibly, the intensity and complexity of Grian Chatten’s voice has deepened since the much-lauded 'Romance'

A masterpiece from the greatest band of their generation

The album’s best songs lean into sinister undertones with relish

While Romance wasn’t the most cohesive LP, the majority of its tracks included beguiling hooks and textbook popcraft. Dopamine, too, is more a grab bag of songs than a precisely outlined set. Unfortunately, in Dopamine’s case, the pop savvy appears less consistently, leaving various tunes groping for identity

‘Dopamine Chamber’ is Fontaines D.C. rambling about the worst bits of the modern world – environmental collapse, extreme wealth, political violence – over some of the prettiest instrumentals the band have written

As dark chroniclers of their age, Fontaines D.C. are here to illuminate the gloom

Dopamine Chamber finds Fontaines moving even further away from the live guitar emphasis of their earlier work – embracing new styles in ways that are, by turns, liberating and devastating

When a band reaches a certain size, a lot of people start claiming they were better before they got big. We defy anyone to listen to 'Dopamine Chamber' and make that claim in good faith - this is a band firing on all cylinders and staking their claim to be the best band of their generation

Dopamine Chamber is the sound of Fontaines DC becoming megastars. Is bigger always better?

As Dublin’s finest reach stadium level, album five dives deeper into the extremes of ‘Romance’ for a dark but exhilarating reflection of end times

After the surreal technicolour dreams of 'Romance', Fontaines D.C. have landed back on Earth to dissect our fractured reality. The result is something truly special

This is a beguiling, endlessly inventive and frequently astonishing fifth LP from a group at increasing ease with being the best band of their generation