It is certainly heartening to know that any day Annie Lennox decides to step into the recording studio, she'll be able to delight her fans and the world with her words and melody.

Dark Road opens with its sunken melancholic before breaking into a rapturous bridge then closing with the quiet calm it began with. Such is a display of the multitudes of emotion Lennox is capable of packing in. On songs like Womankind and the archetypical anti-HIV/AIDS tribute, Lennox attempts to sing about female empowerment and knowledge, resulting in two gorgeous anthems. The latter, ambitiously includes the backing vocals of 23 female artists and a resounding sign-off that features a short African interlude. On other tracks (Big Sky, Lost), Lennox touches on love, loss, and hurt like no one else ever knew.

At her most experimental, Lennox shows her mastery. Through the Glass Darkly (probably inspired by Jostein Gaarder) begins like a piece of Zero 7 while Coloured Bedspread is a damn fine electronic synth track destined for the clubs.

Of course, Lennox's deep haunting voice is never compromised throughout the album.

If there's one album (along with Feist's The Reminder and Radiohead's In Rainbow) you have to listen to in 2007, Songs of Mass Destruction is the one that serves to add some soul into music.

The Deluxe edition includes extensive commentary of each song by Lennox herself as well as the video for Dark Road. If you get the Barnes and Noble exclusive edition, there's two bonus tracks - the acoustic version of Dark Road which features an entirely different arrangement to the original and Don't Take Me Down. Worth the money for fans.(A)