• Record Label: V2
  • Release Date: May 14, 2002
Metascore
61

Generally favorable reviews - based on 21 Critic Reviews

Critic score distribution:
  1. Positive: 11 out of 21
  2. Negative: 2 out of 21
  1. Another cool chill-out album.
  2. Entertainment Weekly
    91
    It's a formula, but damn if it isn't still effective. [17 May 2002, p.74]
  3. Mixer
    90
    The most poignant artistic statement of his career. [May 2002, p.70]
  4. Q Magazine
    80
    A more coherent album [than Play], it enchances rather than advances his previous approach, proving superior to its predecessor because its music is more sensitive, its emotions more personal, and what's on offer is a closer, more inviting experience. [May 2002, p.105]
  5. He has created a record that might not be as wildly eclectic on the surface as Play, and it certainly lacks club-hits on the level of "Bodyrock" or "South Side," but it's a warm, enveloping, humanistic record with real emotional resonance, which surely is a noteworthy artistic step forward.
  6. Blender
    80
    For the most part, the formula still works fine. [Jun/Jul 2002, p.107]
  7. Alternative Press
    80
    18 makes Play sound like a what-if experiment in techno blues; now Moby sounds like he means it as much as his sampler does. [May 2002, p.77]
  8. Urb
    80
    A sprawling, ambitious 18-track effort that's hardly the cash-in it could've been. [May 2002, p.115]
  9. Most of 18 is pleasant but unchallenging and unremarkable.
  10. So 18 is neither a retread of Play nor a departure from it. It's pop music the way Moby has always heard it: a frantic dance of different sounds and styles, banging into the wall a time or two but hitting sublimely beautiful highs along the way.
  11. Moby continues to do on 18 what he’s always done best, and that is to fuse disparate musical styles with a pop sensibility, while maintaining a moody, almost gothic theme.
User Score
7.9

Generally favorable reviews- based on 32 Ratings

User score distribution:
  1. Positive: 26 out of 32
  2. Negative: 3 out of 32
  1. [Anonymous]
    Jun 3, 2002
    10
    c00li0!
  2. GwenT.
    May 26, 2002
    10
    Another good one.
  3. Jun 25, 2012
    9
    Keeping the style that he had from his Play album, Moby