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Aug 26, 2014It's clever, brave and seamless enough to become a classic.
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Aug 26, 2014After the End is just the type of record that could remain on a loop far longer than its running time without wearing out its welcome.
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Aug 25, 2014Part of the success of After the End lies in its seamless and smart sequencing.
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Aug 27, 2014After The End is a damn good pop album, and it’s not concerned with where it fits in the world.
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Aug 27, 2014While there's a definite chance that some of their established fans might be turned off, if you stick with it you'll start to see glimmers (as on final track "Exile and Ego") that Merchandise--much like The National when they released Boxer--are a band standing on the precipice of arena-filling stardom.
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Aug 25, 2014While it's unlikely to define its own era, it calls forth some classic elements from a prior era to great effect, and with some top-notch songcraft to boot.
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Aug 21, 2014It’s already been a long journey for this band, but it feels like they’re only just beginning to take the right track.
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MojoAug 20, 2014This is the sound of a big new beginning. [Sep 2014, p.92]
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Aug 19, 2014After the End sounds like pretty much every other 80s-influenced indie record you've been hearing since what now feels like the beginning of time itself. Still, at other points, Merchandise do manage to provide a fresh take on the 80s.
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Sep 2, 2014While Merchandise hasn’t exactly figured out how to inflate their songwriting to match the scale of the giants who’ve preceded them, After the End still glows too vividly to be obscured by anyone else’s shadow.
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Aug 28, 2014Merchandise are a band at a crossroads, and After The End reflects that--they’ve proved here that they’re very good at creating accessible indie-pop, but seem more comfortable with their more brooding side.
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Aug 28, 2014An album this guileless is bound to be polarizing, for the very fact that it resolutely resists the urge to provoke.
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Aug 28, 2014It won't win many points for originality--indeed they may lose a few old fans along the way - but this is the sound of a band reborn.
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Aug 27, 2014Though their unwavering embrace of pop on this record might seem antagonistic in and of itself, they still manage to sound convincingly earnest and (for the first time) fun.
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Aug 25, 2014After The End is a self-proclaimed pop record with lofty ambitions, after all, and their commitment to a broader aesthetic feels earned and vital.
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UncutAug 19, 2014They're immersed in keyboard-assisted '80s pop and brooding white soul, with overtones of New Order and Lloyd Cole, while XCox's Morrissey-like vocals again underscore their love of The Smiths. [Sep 2014, p.75]
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Aug 19, 2014After The End is frequently great, but it’s also frequently over-familiar.
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MagnetSep 18, 2014After The End is disappointing because Merchandise has already proven it can do more. [No. 113, p.59]
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Q MagazineAug 28, 2014The only sticking point is frontman Carson Cox's vocals. He's so curiously low in the mix at times that it gives the impression of a man absentmindedly wandering through his own songs. [Sep 2014, p.111]
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Aug 26, 2014Crescendoing tracks like "True Monument" sound positively lush--at least if you ignore the dopey lyrics about "the cruelty of kindness" and other clichés.
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Alternative PressAug 19, 2014The anthems still have Morrissey and Marr in their DNA, but they pout more than they roar. [Sep 2014, p.108]
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Aug 25, 2014It's the marginal elements--the filtered fade-outs, the incongruous sci-fi bleeping between tracks--that suggest a more interesting band struggling to emerge.