The musical inoffensiveness is complimented by Bono’s incessant empty moralizing. “Cedars of Lebanon” channels the surface emotions of a journalist in the Middle East “squeezing complicated lives into a simple headline.” On “Breathe”, it’s a rallying call to promote “a love you can’t defeat.” The somber “White As Snow” ponders “who can forgive forgiveness where forgiveness is not?” Indeed, self-righteousness is much easier to maintain through rhetoric than through blunt talk. It’s easier to bitch about indifferent Western nations and Third World debt than it is to call-out the world leaders that perpetuate it.

U2 haven’t released a great album since Achtung Baby. But where Pop may have been considered a critical flop, it was admirably ostentatious and risky. Similarly, three subsequent tours (ZooTV, Pop Mart, Elevation) challenged the standard dimensions of an arena or stadium rock show. Undoubtedly, U2 pioneered new methods in tour and deservingly ascended themselves to God-like status in the music world. However, No Line sits idly by, content to borrow from safe terrain, uninterested in exploring anything new (perhaps it’s just old age?). Though not unbearable, No Line is simply anodyne new music — the least appealing of U2’s venerable career.