“The King of Limbs” finds Radiohead emerging from four years of relative silence with their most subdued work to date. The eight tracks that make up the albums’ concise 37 minute length present a precise effort held together by a cluttered atmosphere of chopped-up bass lines by Colin Greenwood, intricate drumming by Phil Selway and Thom Yorke’s often indecipherable falsetto. The black-and-white video for “Lotus Flower” shows Yorke dancing fanatically in a simultaneously haunting and exhilarating demonstration of the listening method needed to unlock the album. “The King of Limbs” asks for complete absorption just as “Kid A” did a decade ago.

Both the content and release of “The King of Limbs” thoroughly eradicate any notion that Radiohead plans to continue in the crowd-pleasing, accessible vain of 2007’s “In Rainbows.” “The King of Limbs” contains nothing remotely similar to that album’s “Bodysnatchers”; in fact, its unrelentingly sparse production makes it difficult to imagine that Radiohead ever put out the modern rock of “OK Computer” and “The Bends.” The release of “The King of Limbs” was just as subtle — a simple announcement appeared on Radiohead’s website on Monday, Feb. 14. Four days later, the album was out with no significant promotional effort and no repeat of the “pay-what-you-want” gimmick of “In Rainbows” — just a few options for purchase of a digital download or a deluxe edition with “newspaper format” artwork.

Sonically, “The King of Limbs” bears a lot of resemblance to Thom Yorke’s recent sparse, electronic-based solo work and also resurrects and enlivens the weaker material from “Amnesia” (2001) and “Hail to the Thief” (2003). “Codex,” for example, embellishes the somber beauty of “Sail to the Moon” with a more delicate piano line and crystalline lyrics like “The water’s clear and innocent.” “Give Up the Ghost,” perhaps the best track and certainly the most mournful, forms from a mesmerizing vocal loop what could be a dirge from another dimension. Perhaps most distinct difference between “The King of Limbs” and previous releases is a deemphasize of Jonny Greenwood’s guitar, which remains mostly in the backdrop until the closing track, “Separator,” where Yorke murmurs, “If you think this is over you are wrong,” in a line widely speculated to promise the imminent release of more music.

The grimness of “The King of Limbs” may result in a bitter first impression, but its rewards lie in getting lost in the music. “The King of Limbs” reinvents Radiohead’s sound and serves as a reminder that Radiohead can produce phenomenal music without catering to the expectations of fans. “The King of Limbs” is a masterpiece created on Radiohead’s own terms.