Music
All-Time High (And Low) Scores
Best Of 2009
Best Of 2008
Best Of 2007
Best Of 2006
Best Of 2005
Best Of 2004
Best Of 2003
Best Of 2002
Best Of 2001
Best Of 2000
Upcoming &
Recent Releases
70
AFI
65
Air
71
Alice In Chains
77
Amerie
70
Anjulie
85
The Antlers
75
Arctic Monkeys
68
As Tall As Lions
82
Atlas Sound
75
The Avett Brothers
67
Backstreet Boys
56
Bad Lieutenant
68
Devendra Banhart
72
Lou Barlow
88
Baroness
69
Basement Jaxx
81
David Bazan
72
Brendan Benson
72
The Big Pink
96
Big Star
46
Billy Talent
75
The Black Crowes
51
Black Mold
59
Amanda Blank
68
Blitzen Trapper
75
BLK JKS
77
A.A. Bondy
73
The Bottle Rockets
63
Box Elders
65
Boys Like Girls
76
Brand New
73
Tyondai Braxton
87
Brother Ali
70
Ian Brown
75
Michael Buble
78
Built To Spill
61
Colbie Caillat
79
Califone
68
Mariah Carey
84
Brandi Carlile
73
Julian Casablancas
83
Rosanne Cash
69
Castanets
65
The Cave Singers
84
Nick Cave & Warren Ellis
79
Vic Chesnutt
75
Choir Of Young Believers
81
Circulatory System
68
The Clean
84
The Clientele
71
Cobra Starship
85
Converge
71
Eric Copeland
80
Cymbals Eat Guitars
71
Datarock
59
Dead By Sunrise
76
Dead Man's Bones
64
Desolation Wilderness
88
Destroyer
63
The Dodos
77
Drive-By Truckers
74
The Duke & The King
66
Bob Dylan
44
The Entrance Band
67
Esser
69
Fanfarlo
63
Felix Da Housecat
68
Fink
78
The Flaming Lips
66
Flight Of The Conchords
79
Florence And The Machine
67
John Fogerty
77
Fruit Bats
83
Fuck Buttons
71
Nelly Furtado
47
Gary Go
68
Ghostface Killah
79
Girls
59
Gloriana
69
Gossip
62
David Gray
66
David Guetta
79
Richard Hawley
74
Mayer Hawthorne
66
Headlights
79
HEALTH
77
Joe Henry
66
Hockey
69
Whitney Houston
68
Imogen Heap
59
Jack Ingram
79
Islands
73
Jessie James
74
Jamie T
83
Japandroids
65
Jay-Z
51
Jet
69
Daniel Johnston
76
Karen O And The Kids
72
Toby Keith
69
Kid Cudi
65
Kings Of Convenience
62
Sean Kingston
64
KISS
76
Kris Kristofferson
68
KRS-One & Buckshot
76
La Roux
84
Miranda Lambert
72
Ledisi
75
Sondre Lerche
56
Juliette Lewis
82
Lightning Bolt
76
Lightning Dust
73
Little Dragon
44
Pixie Lott
73
Lyle Lovett
66
Lovvers
75
Baaba Maal
77
Madness
84
Madonna
85
Manic Street Preachers
62
Maps
55
Massive Attack
57
Matisyahu
67
Reba McEntire
66
Tim McGraw
65
Brian McKnight
79
Mew
77
Malcolm Middleton
77
Mika
68
Amy Millan
76
Mission Of Burma
73
Modest Mouse
76
Molina And Johnson
80
Monsters Of Folk
62
Morrissey
85
Mount Eerie
78
The Mountain Goats
62
Múm
72
Muse
66
Willie Nelson
78
Nirvana
97
Nirvana
72
Nisennenmondai
80
No Age
71
Noah And The Whale
75
Noisettes
79
Nudge
68
Nurses
47
Dolores O'Riordan
74
Os Mutantes
73
Osso
81
Owen
76
Paramore
76
Pastels And Tenniscoats
51
Sean Paul
80
Pearl Jam
66
Jemina Pearl
72
Jack Penate
65
Phish
82
Pissed Jeans
61
Pitbull
79
A Place To Bury Strangers
63
Julian Plenti
66
Robert Pollard
79
Polvo
72
Porcupine Tree
80
Q-Tip
80
R.E.M.
89
Raekwon
69
Rain Machine
70
Ramona Falls
75
Dizzee Rascal
75
The Raveonettes
76
Jay Reatard
82
Reigning Sound
81
Rodrigo Y Gabriela
79
Russian Circles
69
Buffy Sainte-Marie
73
Hope Sandoval & The Warm Inventions
61
Sally Shapiro
78
Shudder To Think
75
Sian Alice Group
70
Simian Mobile Disco
58
Simple Minds
72
Six Organs Of Admittance
69
Slaughterhouse
80
Slayer
61
The Slits
62
Mindy Smith
83
Solillaquists Of Sound
78
Soulsavers
77
Speech Debelle
58
Spiral Stairs
58
Squarepusher
55
Steel Panther
73
Sufjan Stevens
52
Rod Stewart
65
Joss Stone
75
George Strait
83
Barbra Streisand
76
A Sunny Day In Glasgow
74
Susanna And The Magical Orchestra
78
The Swell Season
76
David Sylvian
83
Taken By Trees
78
Tegan And Sara
68
The Temper Trap
72
Themselves
82
They Might Be Giants
67
Third Eye Blind
68
Throw Me The Statue
66
J Tillman
69
Times New Viking
57
Tokio Hotel
67
Trey Songz
71
The Twilight Sad
58
Carrie Underwood
56
The Used
68
Various Artists
70
Various Artists
74
Various Artists
77
The Very Best
71
Kurt Vile
67
Vivian Girls
71
Volcano Choir
76
Rufus Wainwright
59
Weezer
80
White Denim
76
Why?
83
Wild Beasts
80
Wildbirds & Peacedrums
59
Andrew W.K.
71
Patrick Wolf
67
Wolfmother
84
The xx
70
YACHT
75
Yim Yames
79
Yo La Tengo
83
Yoko Ono Plastic Ono Band
51
Pete Yorn & Scarlett Johansson
59
Zero 7
Stars indicate the most critically-acclaimed albums.
Under The Iron Sea
Generally favorable reviews
Based on 24 critic reviews
How did we calculate this?
Based on 68 votes
Read user comments
Rate this album >
Album Info
Label: Interscope
Release Date: 20 June 2006
Discs: 1 disc
Genre(s): Alternative, Rock
Summary
Album number two for the stadium-friendly, piano-led British trio follows two years after the unexpected mega-success of their debut 'Hopes And Fears.'
Also By This Artist: Hopes And Fears Perfect Symmetry
Also On The Web: Official Artist Site
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...
Entertainment Weekly
Aside from a single misstep (the title track, an instrumental that could serve as the too-ponderous theme for an art film about the rise and fall of Atlantis), the strings and things work well, adding density and drama.
Read Full Review >Urb
This time the band offers a variety of styles, from uptempo rockers to gorgeous ballads to move you. [Jun 2006, p.119]
Q Magazine
This lack of reinvention... does not mean lack of invention. [Jul 2006, p.108]
Dot Music
Despite the rousing music and the earnestness of Tom Chaplin's voice, Keane still sing passionately about not very much in particular.
Read Full Review >Uncut
In truth, only an uncharitable curmudgeon could fail to appreciate Tim Rice-Oxley's vastly improved pop songwriting. [Jul 2006, p.102]
Billboard
An album to return to again and again, whose depth grows with every spin.
Read Full Review >All Music Guide
Die-hard fans might rush to judge Under the Iron Sea as sounding a bit too much like U2.
Read Full Review >Slant Magazine
What they have done, to their credit, is take the best elements from those bands--Radiohead's soaring melodies, U2's scope and volume, Coldplay's dogged earnestness--and combine them into something that, for much of Under The Iron Sea's running time, is a perfectly respectable alternative to, say, the likes of Train or The Goo Goo Dolls or to Coldplay's comparatively bland X&Y.
Read Full Review >E! Online
Even if Keane hasn't completely gone down with Under The Iron Sea, the band is merely treading water here.
Read Full Review >The Onion (A.V. Club)
[Songwriter Tim] Rice-Oxley sells his gifts short too often by falling back on tritely positivist pap like "Put It Behind You" and "Try Again," and even Andy Green's electrifying production can't save pasty, interminable songs like "Crystal Ball," "Broken Toy," and (c'mon, now) "The Frog Prince."
Read Full Review >Rolling Stone
Depending on your taste for high romance, it either adds up to heart-tugging pop or nice dinner music.
Read Full Review >Paste Magazine
Keane knows its niche and plays it well. [Aug 2006, p.97]
Blender
Beautiful but strangely unhinged. [Jul 2006, p.100]
Prefix Magazine
Those who enjoy the smooth sounds of inoffensive MOR will find little fault in Keane.
Read Full Review >Mojo
Their new direction sounds suspiciously like the old one. [Jul 2006, p.100]
Spin
There's virtually no tension or drama in Keane's surpassingly pretty pop. [Jul 2006, p.90]
NOW Magazine
Whether you'll like the newest Keane offering depends largely on your appetite for melodrama.
Read Full Review >musicOMH.com
It would appear that Tim, Tom and Richard have spent some time at the U2 School of Squillion-Selling Records, their final project sounding more expansive and dramatic than Hopes And Fears ever did.
Read Full Review >Pitchfork
Iron Sea is filled with the sort of greeting-card poetry that would even give Bono pause.
Read Full Review >Observer Music Monthly
When they're not apeing War-era U2 ('Crystal Ball') they're apeing Achtung Baby-era U2 ('Is It Any Wonder?'). Otherwise they plod along, piano clip-clopping under all the electronic fuss, in thrall to their own pseudo-profundity.
Read Full Review >PopMatters
It’s as if Keane desperately wanted to move past the “three blokes playing simple little songs” label, but didn’t have the technical skill or the guts to pull it off.
Read Full Review >Under The Radar
If this is what happens when Keane attempt to delve into darkness, the mind reels at what these guys would sound like when they’re in a good mood. [#14]
Stylus Magazine
Keane have talked up Under the Iron Sea as being bleaker, more raw than their debut album. It is about the things they have seen over the last two years, the problems, the horrors, the sin. But Keane have not been uncovering the carcases of napalmed babies for the last two years. They’ve been playing music.
Read Full Review >What Our Users Said
The average user rating for this album is 8.1 (out of 10) based on 68 User Votes
Note: User votes are NOT included in the Metascore calculation.
JT S. gave it a9:
The album grows on you with each listen. the melodies are infectious. And that voice...that silky sweet voice of Tom Chaplin will grab hold of you from the get-go. Great album.
Shell V gave it a10:
I love this CD! UTIS is a very brilliant and lovely album. I am proud to listen to a band that has their own unique sound. I just love the melodies! My favorites are "Hamburg Song", "Atlantic", "Try Again", really just about all of them. It is really moving and inspiring, i have no idea what the critics are thinking... The depth and emotion of Iron Sea is unsurpassed, and it is a breath of fresh air compared to what other stuff is out today. I can't tell any of these other bands apart.
Tori gave it a10:
Love love love this CD! I thought they couldn't top their first CD, but they did. Amazing. "Nothing In My Way" is my favorite, but "A Bad Dream" gets to me every time. Isn't it incredible that Tom sounds like John Lennon so appropriately singing an anti-war song?
Brent S gave it a9:
I can't find any real fault, loved the first Cd, was expecting to be disappointed with the follow up, but it is now one of my favorite of all time. Tom has a great voice, the music is excellent. Have seen them in concert twice and will be there again next time they hit Vancouver.
Simon B gave it a7:
I wasn't impressed by this album. Keane sounds like a pre-mature ejaculation. Sometimes squirting some more out of the tank yet still remaining powerless and futile in the end. The melodies are good, I'd listen to this album as a background while reading a book. Keane are obviously laidback musicians that don't break their skulls in half to figure out what music they write and play. It's simple 4/4 pop music with pseudo-catchy lyrics. Chaplin's got a very beautiful voice if you ask me. On the other hand , well... I don't know. The album isn't meant to be a 2007 album of the year. It's not meant to be trash heap stuff. It's average. Average is just about what Keane aim for. Because that average gets them the kind of fans they want. Third album? Sure why not, go for it, guys.
Christopher G gave it a10:
One of the most moving and talented albums of the decade
Jorge P gave it a10:
One of the best albums in history.
