Billed as a 50th anniversary return to their roots, ‘Carnaval De Luz’ finds doing what they do best – making huge, widescreen, panoramic rock songs. With back in tow – a supremely influential figure in their creative evolution – it’s a record that finds the Irish group re-adopting risk into their music-making. Oddly, however, the results are often self-reverential, a record that pulls in different directions at once.

‘Go (Carnaval De Luz)’ harks back to their 90s experimentation, a disorienting opening gambit that leads into the stadium-whacking anthem ‘La Reina’. Bono’s pipes have rarely been better, the Irish star revelling in his role as a gospel-tinged elder statesman. ‘Street Of Dreams’ is a case in point, with Bono hitting some high notes musicians half his age would wince at.

‘Silencio’ is a crushing, punk-infused thriller, the likes of which we haven’t heard from U2 since ‘Elevation’. ‘The Greatest Show On Earth’ is driven forwards by the kind of bombastic guitar line only The Edge can truly get away with, while ‘Midnight Sunshine’ is oddly coy love song.

At times, though, the songwriting lacks definition. ‘Superficiality’ is fun but underwhelming, while the whale song introductory passage on ‘Can’t Stop Us Now’ gives way to a fairly leaden rocker.

It takes two guests to really shake the album up. appearance on ‘The Mirror Maker’ follows her recent duet with Fontaines D.C. – she’s clearly got a soft spot for Irish guitar music, and she adds a different colour to this all-out rocker. A closing appearance from country icon on elegiac finale ‘Torn’ is a reminder of their advancing years, a song about aging and permanence. 

At times thrilling, ‘Carnaval De Luz’ isn’t perfect, but it nonetheless contains some of U2’s best and most effective music for a decade. Shrugging off the cynics, it’s the work of a band with an appetite for the future.

7/10