Rolling Stone's review of The Strokes' seventh album, "Reality Awaits", finds the band in an odd but not unwelcome place a quarter-century after their debut, "Is This It?". The band's reputation has grown rather than faded since 2006 or 2016, buoyed by a recent 20-years-in-the-making tour and the enduring streaming success of "The New Abnormal" track "The Adults Are Talking", yet the new record shows only intermittent enthusiasm for meeting the "save rock and roll" expectations now placed on them.

The review describes "Reality Awaits" as an inconsistent mix of strong Strokes-style songcraft and self-indulgent detours. Tracks such as "Going Shopping", "Going to Babble On" and "Lonely in the Future" are singled out as highlights, blending sharp musicianship with frontman Julian Casablancas's political and generational commentary, even when his lyrics veer into the bizarre. Other songs, including opener "Psycho Shit" and "Liar's Remorse", are criticised for meandering and echoing the more abstract art-pop of Casablancas's side project, the Voidz, at the expense of the album's cohesion.