User ratings in Music are temporarily disabled. More info
  • Record Label:
  • Release Date:
Angles Image
Metascore
71

Generally favorable reviews - based on 41 Critic Reviews What's this?

User Score
7.8

Generally favorable reviews- based on 266 Ratings

  • Summary: The Strokes' self-produced fourth album strikes a neo-garage rock chord with the past, recalling the early sounds of their 2001 debut.
Buy Now
Buy on

Top Track

Under Cover of Darkness
Slip back out of whack at your best It's a nightmare So I'm joining the a Army No house phones, but can I still call? Will you wait for me now? We... See the rest of the song lyrics
Score distribution:
  1. Positive: 25 out of 41
  2. Negative: 1 out of 41
  1. Mar 16, 2011
    90
    Disjointed, hyperactive, experimental, whatever. Angles is the album to beat this year.
  2. Mar 18, 2011
    80
    While Angles lacks a definite image, it is the band's best purely musical statement, and as the band members explore their 30s, perhaps it is time for them to retire their young, aggressive punk image and become successes in the first sense of the word -- strictly musical.
  3. Q Magazine
    May 2, 2011
    80
    Angles fits 10 songs into a brisk 34 minutes and doesn't waste time gunning for gravitas. [Apr 2011, p.92]
  4. 70
    Having been away from being a working band for a half decade, the Strokes have returned with a more polished take on their classic sound. Different: yes. Disaster: absolutely not!
  5. May 10, 2011
    60
    The result is mixed and at times strained, but a spark still lies within.
  6. Mar 22, 2011
    60
    The Strokes have managed to culture a great sense of the schizophrenic on Angles, mapping polar tones in tandem to produce a record that feels both confused and entirely deliberate.
  7. Mar 22, 2011
    30
    The band's tight, and every song contains at least a few interesting musical ideas, but the album as a whole comes across less like a creative mess and more like a stoned-battle-of-the-bands gone wrong.

See all 41 Critic Reviews

Score distribution:
  1. Positive: 46 out of 57
  2. Negative: 3 out of 57
  1. Mar 23, 2011
    10
    I was disappointed with this album when I first listened to it. Now it's grown on me with a vengeance. I absolutely love it. Taken for a FoolI was disappointed with this album when I first listened to it. Now it's grown on me with a vengeance. I absolutely love it. Taken for a Fool is easily one of the best songs, with it's fantastic chorus. Games, the most unnerving departure from The Strokes' norm, is now one of my favourite songs. Life is Simple in the Moonlight has a unique atmosphere of distant sincerity and regret. Not to mention Under Cover of Darkness, easily the best individual Strokes song since the Is This It era. Expand
  2. Dec 24, 2011
    10
    I give this album a 8/10, but had to give it a 10 on MetaCritic to make up for the amateur music fans who gave it low reviews. No matter howI give this album a 8/10, but had to give it a 10 on MetaCritic to make up for the amateur music fans who gave it low reviews. No matter how much you hate The Strokes, a 3/10 is just unacceptable. Have you been hanging out on Pitchfork too much? Come on.. last place to take review advice. Anyways, this album (as i mentioned 8/10) is very solid. They take a poppier, more colorful direction with it, but they make it work. The great thing about any Strokes album is that there's no such thing as a bad song. They are incapable of making a bad song because with a combination of Albert Hammond Jr. and Nick Valensi on guitars, you are set.. Angles can be almost completely listened to from beginning to end without a skip. I say almost because You're So Right. Never let Nikolai push his songs into a Strokes album. I think that was a great lesson for everybody. So this is what keeps it from being another flawless album. As mentioned before, You're So Right is one thing that keeps it from perfection. To have a flawless album, every single song has to be great, and being The Strokes, you are already set to incredibly high standards after ITI and ROF.

    The other thing holding it back from a flawless score is the fact that certain songs in the album don't have the Strokes touch. Take Games and Call Me Back for example. Great songs, but they are songs other bands could potentially make. They would work if they were on an Arctic Monkeys or White Stripes album, but your entire music depends on your certain style. The fact that so many try to imitate them and fail is what makes the Strokes so unique. So, when you have songs like Games and Call Me Back, you're just making songs that other bands can make. So this is the fast and simplified version of the review, but you get the gist of it. It's a great album with really intricate guitar play and the usually tightly timed Strokes style in most songs, but it just misses the beat on a few occasions, which keeps it from being flawless.

    (8/10) PS. After a good 8 months, UCOD is sounding better than before. Go listen to it again.
    Expand
  3. Dec 30, 2011
    9
    Over time the album has grown on me. I can now say that a majority of the album is near-perfect. There might be one forgettable song, but theOver time the album has grown on me. I can now say that a majority of the album is near-perfect. There might be one forgettable song, but the rest makes up for it. "Machu Picchu", "You're So Right", "Taken for a Fool", "Gratisfaction", and "Under Cover of Darkness" are the highlights of the album. It is definitely worth the 5 year wait. Expand
  4. Mar 28, 2011
    8
    This album WILL grow on you. Listen to it a few times from start to finish and somewhere around round three, you forget what you didn't like about it.
  5. Apr 23, 2011
    8
    I don't understand the negative reviews for Angles, it is a fantastic reboot for one of the greatest bands of the century so far, machuI don't understand the negative reviews for Angles, it is a fantastic reboot for one of the greatest bands of the century so far, machu picchu, under the cover of darkness and taken for a fool are all stand-outs Expand
  6. May 23, 2018
    7
    Angles is an album that, at least for the strokes, is annoyingly catchy and hard to get out of your head. It's not "Is This It", but it doesAngles is an album that, at least for the strokes, is annoyingly catchy and hard to get out of your head. It's not "Is This It", but it does have it's moments. 7 out of the 10 songs on this LP are well crafted, intimate, and thoroughly enjoyable listens. However, Games, Metabolism, and You're So Right are, simply put, bad songs. They're hard to listen to. The lyrics aren't anything special either, but what is done well on this album is enough to make Angles a worthy listen, if nothing else. Highlights are Machu Picchu and Life is Simple in the Moonlight. Expand
  7. Mar 23, 2011
    3
    I kept trying to dig this album because I dig The Strokes. I enjoyed Julian Casablanca's solo album, Phrazes..., more and I thought that hadI kept trying to dig this album because I dig The Strokes. I enjoyed Julian Casablanca's solo album, Phrazes..., more and I thought that had some real misses. From what I've heard this was the groups first real collaborative effort, as the prior albums were mainly brainchildren of Julian. It feels like it a collaboration album, with the songs competitive and discordant with one another. I'm slow on music and I'll probably 'figure it out' and enjoy it later, but right now it has me scratching my head. Collapse

See all 57 User Reviews