Metascore
67

Generally favorable reviews - based on 18 Critic Reviews

Critic score distribution:
  1. Positive: 10 out of 18
  2. Negative: 0 out of 18
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  1. 119 is more concerned about power flexing than it is being simple, fast, direct, and catchy (and there are way less 30-second spurts than before); it has a hefty presence of East Coast ferocity, and Spielman's signature chokehold commands the band's socio-political magnitude more than ever.
  2. Oct 8, 2012
    60
    For the majority of the other songs Lee Spielman runs the show, screeching street-sick lyrics about the crime-ridden area surrounding their Sacramento practice space.
  3. Oct 10, 2012
    80
    Its suicidal lyrics and aggressive guitar riffs won't disappoint current fans and will more than likely win over a bunch of kids from the Odd Future side.
  4. Oct 11, 2012
    70
    Thankfully, concessions aren't made at many other places on the album, and that may be why the thing works so well.
  5. Oct 8, 2012
    70
    It's sometimes a difficult listen, there's a lack of lucidity and guile that at times leaves the less striking tracks to come across rather samey.
  6. Oct 15, 2012
    60
    While the group's penchant for humid power-dirges threatens to sink 119 in its middle, they're unbeatable--but only when they skip the accoutrements and just bang away at high speed.
  7. Kerrang!
    Nov 7, 2012
    80
    This remains a feral ball of aggression and loathing. And frankly, we wouldn't want it any other way. [13 Oct 2012, p.54]
  8. Magnet
    Dec 4, 2012
    70
    The band has ripped elements from early L.A. hardcore, '90s powerviolence and screamo, and it wields this arsenal of influences to deliver big, sharp hooks. [No. 93, p.59]
  9. Mojo
    Dec 17, 2012
    40
    Plenty of nightmare visions of Skid Row LA, but really no fun at all. [Jan 2013, p.93]
  10. The most obvious progressions are the band's clearer song structures and Lee Spielman's vocals.
  11. Oct 26, 2012
    60
    Trash Talk are still far from a pop group, and the album features some highly destructive moments in its 22-minute span – but unfortunately, 119 features too many weak spots of lukewarm punk that suggest the group is beginning to slip away from the fully realized and perfectly balanced sound the group was just starting to master.
  12. Oct 11, 2012
    74
    Rather than stampeding recklessly forward on the heels of cataclysmic frontman Lee Spielman, Trash Talk have re-directed their energy into mountainous, pile-driving riffs that hit with a lowdown, deliberate force.
  13. Oct 9, 2012
    60
    About seven tracks in, 119 settles into a series of mid-tempo jogs that fail to really go anywhere.
  14. Q Magazine
    Nov 21, 2012
    40
    Trash Talk's speed punk is the musical equivalent of the third can of Red Bull: a great idea at the time, but may well produce a headache after. [Dec 2012, p.113]
  15. Oct 8, 2012
    90
    Articulate lyrics, brutality, aggression and hot, thick-and-fast sequences that could turn Benjamin Francis Leftwich into a spliff-stealing thug characterise 119.
  16. 80
    Lee Spielman, the charismatic and intense frontman, is far more legible a singer here than he's ever been. That lucidity is in service of some of his most pointed lyrics.
  17. Oct 19, 2012
    50
    An album that is, at best, a dilution of the real experience it's trying to capture.
  18. Nov 6, 2012
    60
    Trash Talk continue with not reinventing the wheel, and they do so effectively--it grinds, it pummels, and it's tailor-made for another generation of youth to get their circle pit on.

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