The Arctic Monkeys conjure an image of the pristine, silver snow of the North Pole, where white, carefree monkeys frolick about before they are snatched and immediately devoured by the Abominable Snowman. This oh-so-cute scene is as ill-fitting as the band’s decision to pair Alex Turner’s weak voice with Matthew “The Cat” Helders’ overpowering drums. It would be the same as featuring Chris Martin from Coldplay in a Metallica song; it simply doesn’t work. For this reason, Turner’s voice sounds more whiny than actually audible.

Their debut, Whatever People Say I Am, That’s What I’m Not, is surely a deceptively rockin’ album — until one realizes the only rhythm comes from the throbbing beat of the drums. When a song has the same up and up banging drums going on with few breaks, the music turns into a numbing background. Just when Turner finds the right melody to compliment his strident voice, the songs are truncated to the mere 2-minute range. Jamie “Cookie” Cook’s backing vocals might as well take center stage to save Turner from embarrassing himself. The painful truth is, the first half of their album follows this same droning formula.

Luckily, the rest of the album avoids this fate. After a quiet interlude, the Monkeys get down to knocking the Libertines and Franz Ferdinand off of their respective pedestals. Though the second half is more appealing, when the entire album is taken together, the result is still tiresome. Despite its rave reviews by the British press and its status as the fastest-selling UK debut record of all time, it doesn’t quite live up to the hype.