After the crooked electronics of Kid A, Radiohead could have gently returned to pop music and put the hit-making machine back into service. But they did nothing of the sort. Don't look here for those flamboyant guitars and grand melodic anthems; the Oxford band dives once again into the world of machines and multi-layered compositions. Disturbing, chaotic, battered, Amnesiac functions like a sonic magma, a pile-up of crazy instrumental phrases and bits of melodies that find a miraculous logic. Disembodied and ghostly, Thom Yorke's man-machine voice haunts these vast volcanic landscapes with long, wavering monologues, on the verge of breaking. Splendid!