Shocked surprise has been replaced by gushing words and overzealous praise as critics rushed to get the first review in on the first My Bloody Valentine album released in 22 years. The band’s front man Kevin Shields had been teasing a new album – their first since the legendary Loveless – for the past few months, at one point claiming that it would be out by the end of 2012. That never happened of course, but at a recent show in London he surprised a heckler by telling them the new album would be out in a few days. That few days turned out to be last weekend, and since then the internet’s been awash with praise for LP m b v. You’d think 22 years would’ve have allowed him to think up a more inventive name.

“The songs on m b v are more melodically complex, intriguing and often pleasing than anything he has written before” The Guardian wrote, with the BBC adding “It’s an album that 22 years of speculation and analysis haven’t come close to matching the reality of. It sounds amazing, and represents an astounding return.”

Across in America Pitchfork were similarly enthused, writing “If you're wired a certain way {MBV's} mixture of desire and confusion is easy to map on to the wider world. For 22 years, the only way to get there was through Loveless and its associated EPs; now there's another path, one many of us never expected to find.”