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Zero 7
Stars indicate the most critically-acclaimed albums.
The Menace
Generally favorable reviews
Based on 19 critic reviews
How did we calculate this?
Based on 3 votes
Read user comments
Rate this album >
Album Info
Label: Atlantic
Release Date: 22 August 2000
Discs: 1 disc
Genre(s): Alternative, Rock
Summary
The long-awaited follow-up to the band's 1995 eponymous debut features a guest contribution from The Fall's Mark E. Smith and a cover of Trio's 'Da Da Da.'
What The Critics Said
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...
Alternative Press
While The Menace isn't as coruscating as Primal Scream's funk-noise plasma wall, Exterminator, it does offer enough twists, turns and fractured sensibilities to make listening to music an active experience again. [#146, p.88]
Rolling Stone
The Menace, the long-delayed follow-up, finds Elastica in an unrepentant mood, scuffing up their terse, trashy guitar rock with fun-house noise while adding a handful of ambient mood pieces that sound like Aphex Twin castoffs.
Read Full Review >All Music Guide
Naturally, it would have made more sense if it appeared in late 1996 or 1997, since it sounds like a simple step forward instead of a great leap into the unknown -- the kind of record that was bashed out in a few weeks by a band desperate to deliver a sequel to a hit record.
Read Full Review >Wall of Sound
Although its moods swing across the dial, it more than delivers on the group's initial promise.
Read Full Review >MTV.com
Gone is the preciousness of Elastica. Instead we get a confident and comfortable Frischmann, her voice, ever cool, fronting a rejuvenated punk-loving band.
Read Full Review >CDNow
The prickly edged new wave of the band's debut has morphed into keyboard-addled post-punk on The Menace.
Read Full Review >Mojo
The Menace is a far more varied and ambitious LP than the first and, one suspects, than the Elastica album we'd have got four or three years ago. A very pleasant surprise.
Read Full Review >Spin
They still make totally successful, totally stupid modern rock anthems pumped up on three-chord riffs, an abiding love of the sci-fi sex-kitten archetype and a separate track for handclaps.
Read Full Review >The Onion (A.V. Club)
It's hard to imagine Elastica's fans being patient or loyal enough to care much either way about The Menace, though it's artistically solid enough to warrant consideration.
Read Full Review >Sonicnet
Simultaneously more tossed-off and expressive than 1995's Elastica album, The Menace is a frustrating listen, oscillating between actively courting the listener and fashioning a more tangential state somewhere between punk momentum and wearisome breakdown
Read Full Review >Magnet
Sounds like lovelorn, half-baked philosophy for the Mariah Carey set.... Lucky for Justine Frischmann and her reconstituted Elastica, rock 'n' roll doesn't require lyrical profundity, just great beats, riffs, and attitude. All are here in spades... [#47, p.90]
Launch.com
What "Menace" lacks in continuity it more than makes up for with brass balls and a sense of adventure.
Read Full Review >Billboard
Another satisfying collection of quick, riff-happy new wave/punk rock that, while no match for its first album, was nonetheless worth the wait.
Read Full Review >Q Magazine
Compared to the angular new wave of yore, the Elastica sound has matured into something far more interesting.
Read Full Review >New Musical Express
Without the gritty substance of the first album, it has all the depth of a packet of peanuts.
Read Full Review >Spin Cycle
There are hints of the stuttered hooks that snared listeners on the band's '95 debut, yet they're so snarled in manic sound, you're unsure whether you're being grabbed or gagged.
Read Full Review >Neumu.net
Elastica throw out crackling melodies with little regard for the listener.
Read Full Review >Entertainment Weekly
While sleek, skilled production on The Menace keeps their tightly wound new wave tracks from sounding dated, Frischmann's lackluster (often tuneless) songwriting stutters.
Read Full Review >L.A. Weekly
A 38-minute spoonful of slop, the sound of a band pissing it all away.
Read Full Review >What Our Users Said
The average user rating for this album is 8.6 (out of 10) based on 3 User Votes
Note: User votes are NOT included in the Metascore calculation.
Benjamin Bunny gave it a 6:
Let's face it: Elastica is over. This CD isn't bad, but not good enough to merit a five-year gap between their classic first album and this (I'd guess was due to Justine Frischmann's heroin problems). Buy the first album, burn this.
Beau K gave it a 10:
Witht he release of "The Menace" Elastica has finally gripped onto what seems to be their best album yet. Delivering both a familiar and yet matured eruption of less jagged punk sounds, they have learned to vary their songs and still appease the old fan.
