This is a great album. It hangs together well as a whole piece, but the individual songs are also excellent. I recommend both the album and seeing Arcade Fire live. They are like a frenetic ball of energy on stage.
Montreal's Arcade Fire brings a theatricality, an intensity, an insanity, and a penchant for amazing hooks to their debut full-length. You've never heard such energy, beauty, and emotion from such a young band. Fans of Neutral Milk Hotel, Broken Social Scene, and Roxy Music's first two albums will have a new favorite band.