Editing How to Dismantle an Atomic Bomb (section)

===Critical reaction===
{{Music ratings
| MC         = 79/100<ref name="metacritic">{{cite web|url=https://www.metacritic.com/music/how-to-dismantle-an-atomic-bomb/u2|title=Reviews for How To Dismantle An Atomic Bomb by U2|publisher=[[Metacritic]]|access-date=8 November 2013}}</ref>
| rev1       = [[AllMusic]]
| rev1score  = {{rating|3.5|5}}<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.allmusic.com/album/how-to-dismantle-an-atomic-bomb-mw0000259092|title=How to Dismantle an Atomic Bomb&nbsp;– U2|publisher=[[AllMusic]]|access-date=21 November 2009|last=Erlewine|first=Stephen Thomas|author-link=Stephen Thomas Erlewine}}</ref>
| rev2       = ''[[Blender (magazine)|Blender]]''
| rev2score  = {{rating|4|5}}<ref name="blender-rev"/>
| rev3       = ''[[Entertainment Weekly]]''
| rev3score  = B<ref name="ew-rev"/>
| rev4       = ''[[The Guardian]]''
| rev4score  = {{rating|4|5}}<ref name="guardian-rev"/>
| rev5       = ''[[Los Angeles Times]]''
| rev5score  = {{Rating|4|4}}<ref name="latimes-rev"/>
| rev6       = ''[[NME]]''
| rev6score  = 9/10<ref name="nme-rev"/>
| rev7       = ''[[Pitchfork (website)|Pitchfork]]''
| rev7score  = 6.9/10<ref name="pitchfork-rev"/>
| rev8       = ''[[Q (magazine)|Q]]''
| rev8score  = {{Rating|4|5}}<ref name="q-rev"/>
| rev9       = ''[[Rolling Stone]]''
| rev9score  = {{rating|4|5}}<ref name="RS review"/>
| rev10      = ''[[Uncut (magazine)|Uncut]]''
| rev10score = {{rating|4|5}}<ref name="uncut-rev"/>
}}

''How to Dismantle an Atomic Bomb'' received generally positive reviews from critics. At [[Metacritic]], which assigns a [[standard score|normalized]] score out of 100 to ratings from critics, the album received an average score of 79 based on 26 reviews.<ref name="metacritic"/> [[Rob Sheffield]] of ''[[Rolling Stone]]'' described it as "grandiose music from grandiose men, sweatlessly confident in the execution of their duties", believing the album was well served by not tamping down Bono's ego or ambitions. Sheffield praised "Sometimes You Can't Make It on Your Own", calling it "a reminder that what makes U2 so big isn't really their clever ideas, or even their intelligence – it's the warmth that all too few rock stars have any idea how to turn into music".<ref name="RS review">{{cite magazine|url=https://www.rollingstone.com/music/music-album-reviews/how-to-dismantle-an-atomic-bomb-195272/|title='Bomb' Hits Big|magazine=[[Rolling Stone]]|last=Sheffield|first=Rob|author-link=Rob Sheffield|issue=963|date=9 December 2004|page=172|access-date=13 April 2021}}</ref> Johnny Davis of ''[[Q (magazine)|Q]]'' said that the Edge's guitar playing "makes this record" with his "arsenal of guitar noises that bring to mind a particularly impatient boy with a new box of indoor fireworks". Responding to Bono's quote about the group wanting to stave off a decline, Davis said, "They've succeeded in not becoming crap quite admirably."<ref name="q-rev">{{cite magazine|title=U2: How to Dismantle an Atomic Bomb|magazine=[[Q (magazine)|Q]]|issue=221|first=Johnny|last=Davis|date=December 2004|page=126}}</ref> [[Robert Hilburn]] of the ''[[Los Angeles Times]]'' called the album "triumphant", praising U2's "journey from adolescence to maturity" over their career as one that few groups could make "with their creative vision so fully intact". He said that Bono lyrically "explores epic themes, from faith to family, with such indelible grace that the CD stands with 'The Joshua Tree' and 'Achtung Baby' as one of the Irish quartet's essential works".<ref name="latimes-rev">{{cite news|url=https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-2004-nov-21-ca-u221-story.html|title=U2's spirit is still on an upward drive|newspaper=Los Angeles Times|date=21 November 2004|page=E43|access-date=13 April 2021|last=Hilburn|first=Robert|author-link=Robert Hilburn|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170227152548/http://articles.latimes.com/2004/nov/21/entertainment/ca-u221|archive-date=27 February 2017|url-status=live}}</ref> Dan Martin of ''[[NME]]'' called it "a classic U2 album, but also a breathtakingly modern heavy fucker", adding that "Bono's genius is that his inner monologue is so huge and heroic that it matches the scale of the music".<ref name="nme-rev">{{cite magazine|title=U2: How to Dismantle an Atomic Bomb|magazine=[[NME]]|last=Martin|first=Dan|date=13 November 2004|page=55}}</ref> Steve Morse of ''[[The Boston Globe]]'' called it a "nakedly honest, uplifting album" and their most personal one since ''The Joshua Tree''. He called it "a joy to see the group rekindle its shimmering '80s guitar-pop sound" and was encouraged that their music "comes so strongly from the gut once again, without the latest techno-experimental production techniques."<ref>{{cite news|url=http://archive.boston.com/ae/music/packages/U2Fleetcenter/album_review_atomic_bomb/|title=U2 returns to soulful form on 'Atomic Bomb'|newspaper=[[The Boston Globe]]|first=Steve|last=Morse|date=23 November 2004|pages=C1, C6|access-date=13 April 2021}}</ref> [[Ann Powers]] of ''[[Blender (magazine)|Blender]]'' called the album a "''tour de force'' of tune and mood", adding, "because U2's sound has come to signify an open heart... it nearly always feels fresh, the way a new flame does". She thought that Bono lyrically "wields sentimentality like a switchblade" but also said that "U2's music is so broad and welcoming it can express ardor equally well for Christ, wives, supermodels, children or Bishop [[Desmond Tutu]]".<ref name="blender-rev">{{cite magazine|url=http://www.blender.com/guide/reviews.aspx?id=2946|title=U2: How to Dismantle an Atomic Bomb|magazine=[[Blender (magazine)|Blender]]|issue=32|date=December 2004|access-date=21 November 2009|last=Powers|first=Ann|author-link=Ann Powers|page=132|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20041206204132/http://www.blender.com/guide/reviews.aspx?id=2946|archive-date=6 December 2004|url-status=dead}}</ref>

Stephen Troussé of ''[[Uncut (magazine)|Uncut]]'' called it "their most unabashedly strident record since ''[[The Unforgettable Fire]]''" and said that songs such as "City of Blinding Lights" and "All Because of You" gave "the sense of a band flexing muscles they haven't used in years". He remarked about the melancholic undertow of Bono's lyrics, believing that the "lines that stay with you speak of a creeping malaise".<ref name="uncut-rev">{{cite magazine|url=https://www.uncut.co.uk/reviews/u2-how-to-dismantle-an-atomic-bomb-11232/|title=U2 – How To Dismantle An Atomic Bomb|magazine=[[Uncut (magazine)|Uncut]]|first=Stephen|last=Troussé|date=December 2004|issue=91|page=136|access-date=18 March 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20050205072044/http://uncut.co.uk/music/u2/reviews/400|archive-date=5 February 2005|url-status=dead}}</ref> [[Alexis Petridis]] of ''[[The Guardian]]'' said that the album "may be unadventurous and melodramatic, but it is packed with disarming moments". He thought the group had embraced the clichéd elements of their 1980s music but said, "Driven by a ferociously powerful rhythm section, U2 sound pleasingly raw, particularly next to the current wave of stadium rock pretenders". He lamented the abandonment of their 1990s experimentation, but appreciated their retention of self-awareness, concluding, "it seems highly unlikely anyone will laugh at U2 again".<ref name="guardian-rev">{{cite news|url=https://www.theguardian.com/music/2004/nov/19/popandrock.shopping4|title=You're not laughing any more|newspaper=The Guardian|last=Petridis|first=Alexis|author-link=Alexis Petridis|date=19 November 2004|at=sec. Friday Review, p. 20|access-date=21 November 2009}}</ref> [[David Browne (journalist)|David Browne]] of ''[[Entertainment Weekly]]'' questioned U2's motivations for back-pedaling musically but called them "one of the few remaining bands who can make pop-chart lust work for them, as ''Atomic Bomb'' intermittently demonstrates".<ref name="ew-rev">{{cite magazine|url=https://ew.com/article/2004/11/26/how-dismantle-atomic-bomb/|title=How to Dismantle an Atomic Bomb|magazine=[[Entertainment Weekly]]|last=Browne|first=David|author-link=David Browne (journalist)|date=26 November 2004|issue=794|pages=115–116|access-date=28 December 2010|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190204052741/https://ew.com/article/2004/11/26/how-dismantle-atomic-bomb/|archive-date=4 February 2019|url-status=live}}</ref> [[Greg Kot]] of the ''[[Chicago Tribune]]'' said that the record "marks a retreat from innovation and daring, and re-immerses the Irish quartet in the comfort zone of its earliest successes". He believed the band had "settl[ed] into middle age by recycling its best riffs and ideas" and that those musical ideas were "destined to pale in coming years as second-hand versions of those classic albums".<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.chicagotribune.com/news/ct-xpm-2004-11-21-0411210575-story.html|title=Secondhand U2|newspaper=[[Chicago Tribune]]|first=Greg|last=Kot|author-link=Greg Kot|date=21 November 2004|at=sec. Arts & Entertainment, p. 8|access-date=14 April 2021}}</ref> [[Amanda Petrusich]] of ''[[Pitchfork (website)|Pitchfork]]'' called the record "brash, grungy, and loud" but not "especially surprising", judging it to contain a "tiny handful of outstanding tracks and a whole mess of schmaltzy filler". She criticised Bono's "vague, cliched observations, his sentiments always awkwardly bombastic or hopelessly maudlin" and thought the album's biggest issue was "that it sounds so much like U2".<ref name="pitchfork-rev">{{cite web|url=https://pitchfork.com/reviews/albums/8330-how-to-dismantle-an-atomic-bomb/|title=U2: How to Dismantle an Atomic Bomb|website=[[Pitchfork (website)|Pitchfork]]|date=21 November 2004|access-date=20 March 2011|last=Petrusich|first=Amanda|author-link=Amanda Petrusich|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20091129221034/http://pitchfork.com/reviews/albums/8330-how-to-dismantle-an-atomic-bomb/|archive-date=29 November 2009|url-status=live}}</ref> Keith Harris of ''[[The Village Voice]]'' said that the lyrics were marred by "legions of rampant clichés" and that the album's producers "simply construct a U2 album in miniature, mixing in the Edge's processed-guitar trademark whenever you fear they're straying into unforgivable un-U2ness. That's just not enough."<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.villagevoice.com/issues/0447/harris.php|title=No More Than a Feeling|website=[[The Village Voice]]|first=Keith|last=Harris|date=24–30 November 2004|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20041124151100/https://www.villagevoice.com/issues/0447/harris.php|archive-date=24 November 2004|url-status=dead}}</ref>