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
Best of the Decade
Upcoming &
Recent Releases
75
Alberta Cross
70
The Album Leaf
69
Alkaline Trio
66
Animal Collective
84
Animal Collective
50
Athlete
82
Beach House
81
The Besnard Lakes
65
Black Rebel Motorcycle Club
64
Dan Black
75
Mary J. Blige
75
Blockhead
79
Blood Red Shoes
70
David Bowie
64
The Brian Jonestown Massacre
72
Broken Bells
65
V.V. Brown
72
The Brunettes
71
Basia Bulat
78
Carolina Chocolate Drops
79
Johnny Cash
79
Chew Lips
82
Chicago Underground Duo
79
The Chieftains Featuring Ry Cooder
76
Citay
66
Clem Snide
77
Clipd Beaks
78
Clogs
66
Cold War Kids
75
Easton Corbin
80
Crazy Heart
70
Jamie Cullum
66
Fyfe Dangerfield
72
Delphic
64
Dinowalrus
78
Drive-By Truckers
59
Editors
71
Eels
70
Efterklang
81
Eluvium
82
Erland And The Carnival
57
Everybody Was In The French Resistance...Now
63
Excepter
78
Field Music
76
First Aid Kit
68
Josephine Foster
82
Four Tet
71
Nils Frahm
74
Freeway & Jake One
75
Frightened Rabbit
82
Fucked Up
64
Peter Gabriel
79
Charlotte Gainsbourg
80
Galactic
67
The Gilded Palace Of Sin
73
Ernest Gonzales
59
Good Shoes
79
Gorillaz
70
Adam Green
79
Patty Griffin
76
Groove Armada
67
H.I.M.
43
Hadouken!
73
Harvey Milk
68
Juliana Hatfield
66
Jimi Hendrix
88
High On Fire
80
Hot Chip
66
The Hot Rats
88
Ray Wylie Hubbard
54
Hurricane Chris
76
Jaga Jazzist
76
Jaheim
70
jj
79
Freedy Johnston
54
Nick Jonas And The Administration
57
Ke$ha
66
Alicia Keys
74
The Knife In Collaboration With Mt. Sims And Planningtorock
63
Lady Antebellum
65
Dawn Landes
82
Lawrence Arabia
74
Ted Leo & The Pharmacists
82
Liars
72
Lightspeed Champion
37
Lil Wayne
82
Lindstrom & Christabelle
68
Little Boots
75
Local Natives
75
Los Campesinos!
67
Lostprophets
65
Ludacris
73
Magnetic Fields
74
Massive Attack
58
Katherine McPhee
66
Daniel Merriweather
76
Pat Metheny
72
Midlake
64
Holly Miranda
79
Allison Moorer
83
Motion City Soundtrack
53
Mudvayne
65
Mumford & Sons
55
Never Shout Never
85
Joanna Newsom
81
Scout Niblett
74
Nneka
75
Oh No Ono
70
OK Go
71
Omarion
77
Owen Pallett
84
Pantha du Prince
77
Past Lives
84
Pavement
78
Phantogram
65
Pit Er Pat
86
Polar Bear
64
Priestess
67
Quasi
77
Corinne Bailey Rae
71
The Red Krayola With Art & Language
81
Fionn Regan
77
Retribution Gospel Choir
57
Martin Rev
64
Rjd2
65
Rogue Wave
82
Jack Rose
76
The Ruby Suns
78
Sade
77
Gil Scott-Heron
77
Shearwater
69
Blake Shelton
84
Shining
68
Shout Out Louds
80
Thee Silver Mt. Zion Memorial Orchestra & Tra-La-La Band
73
The Soft Pack
80
Spoon
63
Ringo Starr
68
Story Of The Year
71
The Strange Boys
77
Strong Arm Steady
79
Surfer Blood
60
Tape Deck Mountain
82
These New Puritans
71
Robin Thicke
76
Tindersticks
81
Titus Andronicus
72
Toro Y Moi
63
Josh Turner
81
Vampire Weekend
79
Laura Veirs
79
Butch Walker And The Black Widows
63
The Watson Twins
69
We Are Wolves
66
Kanye West
64
Wetdog
51
The Whigs
67
White Hills
79
The White Stripes
72
The Whitefield Brothers
68
Wu-Tang Clan
75
Xiu Xiu
78
Yeasayer
73
You Say Party! We Say Die!
63
Young Money
61
Rob Zombie
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.
