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The Back Room
by Editors


8.2

based on 23 reviews
Read critic reviews
How did we calculate this?

based on 74 votes
Read user comments
Rate this album

An End Has A Start

Official Artist Site

The Birmingham, England post-punk quartet is the latest band to have the UK music press in a tizzy, with this debut LP drawing the usual comparisons to Joy Division and Echo & The Bunnymen. (Actually, they just sound like Interpol.)

LABEL:	Fader / Kitchenware
RELEASE DATE:	21 March 2006
DISCS:	1 disc
GENRE(S):	Indie, Rock

NOTES: Original UK release 25 Jul 2005.

All critic scores are converted to a 100-point scale. If a critic does not indicate a score, we assign a score based on the general impression given by the text of the review. Learn more...

E! Online

The Back Room is a fine album that proves you can look backward while paving the way forward.

Drowned In Sound

It’s how Interpol would sound like if they dealt with universal themes and reflection rather than singing about fellatio fantasies with Stella, or their length of loves.

musicOMH.com

It's an album of consistently high quality from start to finish.

All Music Guide

Alternative rock hasn't seen anything like this since the release of Turn on the Bright Lights. The catch: not only is The Back Room better, it holds promise for even better things in the future.

Alternative Press

Where [Interpol] often seem weighed down by their own miserable aura, Editors sound brightest in teh depths of their blackened pop gems. [Apr 2006, p.204]

The Guardian

The longer you listen, the better they become.

New Musical Express

A debut that will endure.

Playlouder

If you were disappointed by 'Antics' then this'll make up for it, and if Interpol's last offering did agree with you then you'll spend the rest of '05 at least giving this a great big hug.

Slant Magazine

Leavening the melancholy with a tense, literate sense of foreboding, The Back Room flows like an obsidian wave from first song to last.

Mojo

Guitars, sounding like synths, soar into the stratosphere, and intense crescendos linger over delicate, breathy passages. [Aug 2005, p.94]

cokemachineglow

The Back Room is an agreeable, sturdy, and surprisingly re-playable debut, one which should probably keep any brooding college kid who’s worn out his copy of Antics happy for the coming autumn.

Under The Radar

Editors' sound is deeply and thoroughly derivative, to be sure. But they do it so well that by the time each chorus rolls around, you won't even notice your Robert Smith mascara running. [#10, p.110]

Q Magazine

As much as The Back Room is a victory for style, it also strikes a blow for substance. [Aug 2005, p.135]

Dot Music

"The Back Room" is, principally, a triumph.

Billboard

It is such a perfect counterfeit that it feels like the genuine article.

PopMatters

The Back Room is an assured debut album from a promising band.

Paste Magazine

[They] possess a knack for tempering melodrama with minor keys and predictable beats. [Apr/May 2006, p.102]

Entertainment Weekly

Bands like Joy Division and Echo and the Bunnymen are hard acts to follow, especially when they're followed so deliberately. [24 Mar 2006, p.70]

Stylus Magazine

They’re good at what they do, but what they’re doing is painting-by-numbers from someone else’s book.

Pitchfork

Editors sound like an earnest rock band who grew up loving the same bands as the current batch of revivalists, but beyond the workmanlike interpretations of their heroes, it's hard to swallow.

Prefix Magazine

The Back Room has the feeling of an album cobbled together too quickly.

Rolling Stone

Because these swirls of desperation are as much about aura as fully formed tunes, their payoff is negligible. [23 Mar 2006, p.65]

The Onion (A.V. Club)

The album starts repeating itself and the returns start diminishing.

The average user rating for this album is 8.2 (out of 10) based on 74 User Votes
Note: User votes are NOT included in the Metascore calculation.

David H. gave it a9:
class music! only song not too fussed on is camera and maybe distance, they r by no means bad songs, just not as good as the rest, which are all excellent. It is a solid album, that is exceptionally well-made, wat an exciting debut! best songs- lights, munich, blood, all sparks, fingers in the factories, someone says and open your arms, which is pretty much all of them!

Garry K gave it a10:
Brilliant album. All the songs are catchy, modern and unforgettable. They remind me of a 21st century version of joy division.

Drake gave it a10:
Beautiful music!

Alun gave it a6:
Okay album - sound is horrible though. No bass - tinny - a sonic assault and not in a good way. Somewhere under the awful clipping and over zealous mastering there might well be some good songs. Because the sound is so sh*te I can't be bothered to get to know them though.

BL Jay gave it a10:
The best British album since the Stone Roses brilliant debut.

Smith gave it a10:
Probably the best debut by anyone since Arcade Fire's The Funeral.

Thompson T gave it a10:
Electrifying. Poetic. Terrific. A must buy!

The Back Room by Editors

The Back Room
by Editors