"MTV, what have you done to me? Save my soul, set me free! Set me free! What have you done to me?" ~the arcade fire

Arcade Fire's Neon Bible will be officially released tomorrow. I preordered it ages ago from Merge, and they usually try to make sure that you receive the album on the day that it's released, so I figured I would check my mail today just to make sure it hadn't arrived yet. And it was there! I was so unbelieveably excited. I have been waiting for this album for forever. I didn't even listen to the leaked version, which took an incredible amount of restraint, because I wanted to wait for the CD-quality version. I'm listening to it now for the first time. It always takes me at least a few listens to get a grasp on an album and to form my opinions of it, so I can't provide a well-developed review right now, but I will say that it's good. It's an album that especially requires attentive listening and multiple listens. Here are my initial reactions:
I haven't heard a stand-out track yet. Their first album, Funeral, had "Rebellion" and "Wake Up" to instantly grab me. Neon Bible is solid all the way through, and every track is strong, but there's no single, electrifying track that jumps out at me right away.
I noticed that a few of the songs on Neon Bible sound a lot like Springsteen songs, and I just realized that Amazon.com's review of the album points out the same thing. For some reason, many new bands are currently turning to Bruce Springsteen for inspiration (The Killers's most recent album, Sam's Town, is an obvious example of that). You can definitely hear Springsteen's influence on Arcade Fire in "Antichrist Television Blues" (which is one of my favorite songs on the album). There's nothing wrong with wanting to be like The Boss; in fact, I think it's great. I'm not sure why The Killers got bashed for their Springsteen-like music while The Arcade Fire is generally being praised, though.
My favorite tracks right now are "Intervention," "Antichrist Television Blues," "The Well and the Lighthouse," and "Keep the Car Running."
I think the sound quality could be improved on certain tracks.
That's all for now; maybe I'll add more thoughts after a few more listens. Overall, I'll sum it up by saying that it's a really good album.