'Accelerate' into the future with R.E.M.

If you plan on rocking out when the apocalypse comes, grab R.E.M.'s Accelerate. In their first studio album since 2004's Around the Sun, Michael Stipe, guitarist Peter Buck, and bassist Mike Mills - along with their touring band - have surged back with a blistering, dynamic album about shrugging off our dwindling society and letting loose. From, ratty distorted guitar riffs rolling from track to track to harmonizing "woo hoos" and "la las" crooning through the background, Accelerate whacks you from the opening guitar solo of "Living Well is the Best Revenge" to the blaring final chorus of the gritty jam "I'm gonna DJ."

Beyond the thrashing and thumping drums, wailing yet smooth guitars, and piano and acoustic undertones, Accelerate struts its greatest feature in Stipe's crispy croon, like a prophecy speaking to a doomed world on how to accelerate through the mess. Throughout the album, Stipe riffs on the absence of religion, from "the sad and lost apostles" in the opening track to the country-laden "Until the Day is Gone," in which he asks, "Providence bleeds facing the sun / And where are we left to carry on?"

Stipe also stresses the absence of security, as he almost whispers, "If the storm doesn't kill me, the government will," in the acoustic-charged "Houston." Throughout Accelerate, Stipe asserts it's still the end of the world, but in 2008 - with an inferno of an album and an upcoming giant tour - he feels more than fine. No more faith? "Believe in me, believe in no one," he proclaims in "Hollow Man." No more security? Don't worry. As he sings in "Man-Sized Wreath," one of the album's catchiest tracks, "Throw it on the fire / Throw it on the air / Kick it out on the dance floor like you just don't care."

Accelerate slides through three swift stages. In the first six songs, through the fired-up title track, Stipe, Mills, and Buck crank the noise with mostly big-balls, bare-bones rock. The album's first single, "Supernatural Superserious," strums through full-on, catchy chords that swing back to "It's the End of the World as We Know It." Throughout the first half of the album, Stipe blares his apocalyptic message with authority, and the rest snap their snares and crank their strings, reminiscent of classic R.E.M. with an even fuller sound.

In the next three songs, Michael mellows his voice, and the band swaps the heavy bass and swirling guitars for a piano and an acoustic. From "Until the Day is Gone" to "Sing for the Submarine," harmonies, instead of riffs, carry the melodies, but Stipe's message carries through in the moving slow songs.

In the final stage, Accelerate exits with two songs to blast for either a blissful or angst-ridden occasion, from a party to filing your taxes. "Water Horse" shines as the album's most joyful track, with badass riffs and all the boys shouting through the chorus. In the final track, "I'm Gonna DJ," Stipe, Mills, and Buck showcase their 28-year cohesive talent with a bashing two-minute frenzy. Stipe asserts "Death is pretty final / I'm collecting vinyl / I'm gonna DJ at the end of the world." At the end of the world, R.E.M.'s latest album will blast in heavy rotation. As the world crumbles, rocket off in Accelerate. A-