Different 'angle' for garage rock legends

The Strokes exploded into pop culture in 2001, drunkenly stumbling onto the covers of countless publications as an almost laughably perfect combination of apathetic swagger, boyish charisma and effortless New York cool. Ushering in the era of garage rock revival, they reigned supreme for the next half-decade as the unabashed crowned princes of consumption, rewriting the AA pamphlet on rock hedonism while providing Gen Y-ers with a consistently hooky soundtrack to their Dionysian lifestyle.

Then came the five-year hangover.

“Angles,” the quintet’s first release since 2006’s critically polarizing “First Impressions of Earth,” is the sound of the Manhattanites reconvening after a series of failed group studio sessions, solo releases, a rehab stint by one of the members and myriad changes in the lives of all five.

Somehow, this tumultuous backdrop birthed a knockout.

From the beginning of the urban reggae-infused opener “Machu Picchu,” the album tackles sonic structures previously not attempted by the former one-trick ponies. While the expected loaded-era Velvet Underground, Television and Stooges influences remain, the group finds itself augmented by 1980s tonal tinges, unprecedented instrumental interplay and a new depth of caustic detachment in the croon of cooler-than-you front man Julian Casablancas.

“Under Cover of Darkness,” the album’s first single, serves as the most steadfast reminder of a bygone era in Strokelore, complete with infectious, biting guitar licks, manic-but-calculated drumming by Us Weekly regular Fabrizio Moretti and a sing-song chorus.

From there, The Strokes opt for the unmapped.

“Two Kinds of Happiness” owes infinitely more to “Remain in Light”-era Talking Heads than mid-’70s Iggy Pop.

“Taken For A Fool” masterfully channels an otherwise unholy marriage of The Cars and Thin Lizzy, while the electronically atmospheric “Games” sounds as if it could have been featured in the closing credits of 1987’s “RoboCop.”

While an often-captivating departure from the conventional, “Angles” does occasionally falter.

“Gratisfaction” chugs along like a bloated “First Impressions” outtake, and “Metabolism” evokes a band with too much time on its hands, all five members egotistically vying to be noticed over one another.

In the end, however, “Angles” is the sound of a stunningly matured group firing its dull-eyed afterburners straight at the future of rock. As Casablancas drones in the album’s gorgeous closer, “Life is Simple in the Moonlight,” if you can’t accept the direction in which this band is yet again steering popular music, “Don’t try to stop us/Get out of our way.”