Following on the heels of a long-awaited effort from the other famous band out of Athens, Georgia, R.E.M. released their fourteenth studio album earlier this month.

Accelerate has been heralded as a return to form, though it’s fair to greet such reviews with some skepticism. It’s a little like the boy who cried wolf. Critics have leaned on that “comeback crutch” when covering each R.E.M. release since drummer Bill Berry’s departure in 1997. With Accelerate, the truth lies somewhere in between. Remaining members Peter Buck, Mike Mills, and Michael Stipe never really lost their musical religion, but were searching for a way to cope while the public watched and listened (or didn’t, to Up, Reveal, and Around The Sun*). Stipe, who famously used a three-legged dog analogy to defend the band’s decision to continue, admits that Berry’s retirement “had its ripple effects for the next several years.”

Still, it’s worth remembering that the times we live in have a heck of a lot to do with what R.E.M. delivers on record. Think back to 1987’s Document and pointedly political songs like “Exhuming McCarthy,” written in response to Reagan’s conservative reign. Or the environmental concerns expressed on 1988’s Green. Considering the dazed-and-confused mood that has marked the Bush II years, it shouldn’t have been surprising that the band’s output would reflect a similar state. Whether quartet or trio, we get the R.E.M. we deserve.

Inching ever closer to the light at the end of an eight-year-long tunnel just might be the reason that the aptly titled Accelerate finds Peter Buck, Mike Mills, and Michael Stipe picking up the pace. “When the empire is going down the toilet, it’s easy to write great, angry songs,” Stipe recently told Spin. The album’s opener, “Living Well Is The Best Revenge” can be read as both a parting shot at our lame-duck president and an answer to the band’s critics (“Don’t turn your talking points on me / History will set me free / The future is ours and you don’t even rate a footnote“). That crackling energy is present throughout the whole of Accelerate, serving notice that R.E.M. 2.0 is armed and ready for the 21st century: We can get there from here!

Producer Jacknife Lee (Snow Patrol, U2) helmed Accelerate, and deserves some credit for the band’s newfound focus and sonic straight-shooting. While the album certainly recalls “classic” R.E.M. (snippets of “Hollow Man” and “Houston”), neither party is settling for a successful rehash of the past. Things just fit right this time around, as if Lee had been holding the missing piece of the post-Berry puzzle (thanks to U2’s The Edge for the hook-up).

There’s a lot of loud to love on Accelerate, like lead single, “Supernatural Superserious.” R.E.M. posted ten videos for the song (a new-century tactic from the once video-averse Stipe). Here’s one of them:

There are, of course, contemplative moments to savor on Accelerate as well, like the aforementioned “Houston.” Hear here:

Just under 35 minutes from start to finish, Accelerate is R.E.M.’s most consistent effort since 1996’s New Adventures In Hi-Fi (the group’s final disc as a foursome). Not only do the trio’s eleven new tracks hang together nicely here (creating an album in the truest sense), Accelerate is just shy of Out Of Time and Automatic For The People status.

R.E.M. isn’t kidding around, folks. This time, the wolf is here and out for blood.

*2004’s Around The Sun shouldn’t be summarily dismissed. In preparation for this post, I pulled that disc off the shelf and listened again. “Leaving New York,” “Boy In The Well,” and “Aftermath” are really well-crafted songs.