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...

100

E! Online

Tak[es] on the state of global affairs in a way that is both surprisingly direct yet somehow reassuringly weird.

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100

Uncut

Make no mistake, the Lips have done it: three astonishing LPs in a row. [May 2006, p.94]

Filter

Each consecutive [song] is stranger than the last. [#19, p.88]

Playlouder

While Wayne Coyne has been carving out and presenting to the world the manifestations of his crazy mind for an age now, the possibilities have so often been superior to the finished article. That is certainly not the case here.

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Amazon.com

Coyne is a shrewd observer of human nature, and an even shrewder songwriter and this album stands as his greatest and most varied work yet.

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Neumu.net

What makes At War With the Mystics different is spontaneity -- and not spontaneity in a jazz sense. Listening to this album you get the feeling that absolutely anything could happen -- as if it's taking final form only as it reverberates off your eardrums.

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Dot Music

The Flaming Lips' most effortless and varied exploration of their charming and profound tongue to date.

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Drowned In Sound

That it’s a certainty for inclusion in critical end-of-year top tens is a given.

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Under The Radar

The wondrous beauty of Yoshimi hasn't been abandoned entirely... but the fighting spirit throughout At War With The Mystics is what truly sustains it. [#13, p.85]

Los Angeles Times

The weird part is how well this stuff holds together, a delirious jumble of android psychedelia and Coyne's elliptical wordplay that goes down as easily as warm milk (spiked with acid). [26 Mar 2006]

ShakingThrough.net

The earthbound, anxious and somewhat pissed-off attitude is what stands out and makes the strongest impression.

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Spin

At War is gnarlier and a bit less tuneful than the group's previous two CDs. But the arrangements, and Dave Fridmann's signature blend of clarity and overmodulation, remain intricately weird. [Apr 2006, p.89]

Mojo

A record of jarring juxtapositions, a bunch of cool tunes that could[n't] care less about how they fit together. [Apr 2006, p.86]

Observer Music Monthly

A wonderful record that is flawed - that'll be those flatulent synths again - but by design.

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Alternative Press

Ever wonder what an all-star band featuring Burt Bacharach, Jethro Tull, Black Sabbath and Pink Floyd would sound like stoned on the final reel of 2001: A Space Odyssey? [May 2006, p.172]

New Musical Express

It's astonishing how the band are unafraid to take on Serious Issues yet remain so much fun.

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musicOMH.com

Ultimately, if a Flaming Lips didn't include a high degree of experimentation, you'd be disappointed. Yet when they keep things simple, such as the closing piano led Goin' On, the results are magnificent.

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Slant Magazine

At War With The Mystics is impossible to digest in a single listen; it's a true headphone album that demands attention and rewards the patient with unexpected delights.

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The Guardian

At War With the Mystics falls short of being a masterpiece, but the more you listen to it, the more it adds up.

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Q Magazine

It's a record that might even disappoint on first listen, but one that reveals many subtleties and wonders over time. [May 2006, p.118]

Entertainment Weekly

Much of the CD is both beautiful and heartfelt. [7 Apr 2006, p.59]

The Onion (A.V. Club)

Coyne and company may have reached the limits of what cartoon universalism can do, but beneath the random bombast on Mystics--which frequently sounds like Steely Dan as heard from the other end of a machine shop--there's some Pink Floyd-styled moodiness and '70s singer-songwriter melodicism that suggests new areas for the band to explore.

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The Phoenix

At War with the Mystics is as accessibly odd as Yoshimi but more scattered and darker.

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Blender

While their protest cries tilt feebly into goofball psychedelic funk, a lush poignancy bubbles up on the more ruminative tracks. [May 2006, p.110]

Urb

Mystics still has plenty of weird, shining moments to solidify the band's unique spot in rock, but the schizophrenia may leave you a bit jarred. [Apr 2006, p.84]

Billboard

Their most organic-sounding album since 1995's "Clouds Taste Metallic."

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PopMatters

While it’s not another masterpiece, it does surpass much of the group’s previous work, which it sounds related to, but not similar to.

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All Music Guide

The way that Mystics bounces back and forth between its ethereal and zany moments gives it a disjointed, uneven feel that makes the album a shade less satisfying than either Yoshimi or Soft Bulletin.

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Prefix Magazine

Sonically, the album picks up exactly where the Lips left off with Yoshimi Battles the Pink Robots: heavy on the pop psychedelics, occasionally odd without being inaccessible.

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Pitchfork

While the band has always played around with a variety of sounds, when you get down to the nuts and bolts of songwriting, most of Mystics doesn't measure up.

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Tiny Mix Tapes

The strongest feeling I get from At War With The Mystics is that it's a wank riddled parody amalgam of The Flaming Lips back catalogue, focusing on the earlier stuff.

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Rolling Stone

The Lips' spacious attack feels a little tired. [6 Apr 2006, p.64]

cokemachineglow

Whatever thematic consistency existed on Yoshimi or Soft Bulletin is completely absent here. Or just so vague and bloated that the sentiment’s useless.

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Stylus Magazine

This is a band that, rightfully, just sounds tired.

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Village Voice

This is the sound of a band run dry.

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Dusted Magazine

It covers too much ground, spreads its inventive energies too thin.

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Austin Chronicle

Those farty sounds and the guy with the deeeeeeeeeep voice on "It Overtakes Me" are called "bells and whistles." That's what bands do when they don't have anything to say.

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What Our Users Said

The average user rating for this album is 7.6 (out of 10) based on 123 User Votes

Note: User votes are NOT included in the Metascore calculation.

Tom P gave it an8:
Mike, you're an idiot. Radiohead is, I'm sorry, a better band than The Flaming Lips, and their stuff, or anything on this album, is not taken from Pink Floyd, mabye inspired by them, but have you ever even listened to them, or are you just plain ignorant? Anyways, this is still an entertaining listen, if not as enjoyable as Yoshimi Battles the Pink Robots or The Soft Bulletin.

john T. gave it a10:
Only once I gave this a chance did I realize the amazing complexity and possibility of this album. This is an album where you can listen to it a hundred times and discover something new each time. "It over takes me" is an epic in itself.

Damon T gave it an8:
Mostly, a very enjoyable album.

Guy H gave it a7:
Nowhere near their best but still a decent album. There are signs of a welcome return to the more expansive sound of The Soft Bulletin (Sound of Failure, the end of It Overtakes Me). A couple of absolute duds (Free Radicals, Haven't Got A Clue) and a bit of fodder (Ambulance Driver, Goin' On) bring the rating down.

Landon __ gave it a10:
Masterpiece with political undertones. Their best albumt o date

Mike gave it a3:
A serious decline from Yoshimi. Sincerity is really missing from this record, and that is not a good thing since that is a Flaming Lips strength. The production feels very bland, and the melodies are very poor (another Flaming Lips strength that doesn't appear on this record). This album is like a Radiohead album. It sounds ok the first few listens, but then you realize it's just "experimental" music that is really just borrowed from Pink Floyd. Pink Floyd it is not. What happened to the genius Lips that created the Soft Bulletin, Transmissions from the Satellite Heart and Yoshimi Battles the Pink Robots? I can't think of finer rock records. Hopefully the get back in the studio ASAP.

Tom gave it a4:
All over the place - in a bad way. I remember reading that Wayne said the band was "getting back to their roots" or something like that before the album came out and that's always a worrisome thing - whenever bands seem to feel the need to "get back to roots" it usually means they're lost, and that's what this album sounds like, a band lost with no idea where to go. Sure, there are some good songs here, but there are an unfortunate number of go-nowhere songs that drag down the forward progression. Even more unfortunately, superior material is to be found in the outtakes of this album on singles and now on the 5.1 reissue - yes, it's actually worth buying to get those tracks in one place. Mystics was definitely my biggest disappointment of the year.

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At War With The Mystics

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