For a Sonic Youth fan, the last couple of years have probably seemed exceedingly empty. It's been almost exactly three years since the release of Rather Ripped, their final record for Geffen. This is the longest time span in the band's 27 years of releasing music that they haven't made a new studio album available. Enter The Eternal.

This record also celebrates a few "firsts" for the band... It's the first time that Kim Gordon, Thurston Moore and Lee Renaldo all share vocal duties on several of the tunes, including "What We Know" and "Poison Arrow," as well as my favorite, "Anti-Orgasm." Bassist, Mark Ibold, who has toured with the band, joins them for the first time on a studio recording.

There's also some familiar territory here. The band is once again an indie band after leaving the major label and signing with Matador. You'll also hear the distorted, fuzzed-out and ethereal sounds next to rifts that sound like they belong on a '90's metal album.! In other words, the sound that you've probably come to expect from this band.

On While making this record, the band really letallowed the fans get an inside view of the recording process by with regular updates via the band's Twitter account and Wwebsite. Messages like "john thinks he's teaching us a thing or two about feedback. in the meantime mix#4 was completed — something about a Mailbu Gas Station" whetted our appetites just enough to log on each day just to check the album's status. The John that they spoke of in that tweet, btw, is John Agnello, who worked with the band on "Rather Ripped" and has also worked with The Hold Steady and Drive-By Truckers.

In my opinion, "Walkin' Blue" is Lee Ranaldo's best vocal performance. I expect to see this album on many a top 10 list at the end of the year.