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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.
