> Switch to Advanced Search

New & Current Releases
Archives: A-Z Index
Advanced Search

Upcoming Release Calendar
All-Time High (And Low) Scores
Best Of 2007
Best Of 2006
Best Of 2005
Best Of 2004
Best Of 2003
Best Of 2002
Best Of 2001
Best Of 2000
How Metascores Are Calculated
Discuss Music In Our Forums

sort by name

sort by score

55 3 Doors Down
69 9th Wonder & Buckshot
69 Adele
70 Adem
75 Alkaline Trio
78 Animal Collective
64 Anti-Flag
69 The Apples In Stereo
54 Ashanti
69 Atmosphere
67 The Black Angels
77 The Black Keys
83 Bonnie "Prince" Billy
75 Boris
71 Billy Bragg
74 The Breeders
47 The Brian Jonestown Massacre
83 Bun B
64 T Bone Burnett
65 Mariah Carey
87 Nick Cave And The Bad Seeds
68 The Charlatans
68 Clinic
72 Coldplay
78 The Constantines
79 The Cool Kids
78 Elvis Costello & The Impostors
60 The Courteeners
79 Cut Copy
53 Craig David
73 Death Cab For Cutie
47 Def Leppard
61 Gavin DeGraw
66 dEUS
79 Neil Diamond
63 Dirty Pretty Things
57 Disturbed
59 Does It Offend You, Yeah?
73 Dresden Dolls
69 Dub Pistols
71 Duffy
68 The Duke Spirit
81 Jakob Dylan
79 Earlimart
70 Ecstatic Sunshine
65 El Perro del Mar
82 Elbow
85 Alejandro Escovedo
73 Estelle
72 The Explorers Club
79 The Fall
54 Feeder
72 Firewater
77 Tim Fite
88 Fleet Foxes
79 Flight Of The Conchords
74 Foals
79 Robert Forster
75 Four Tet
47 Foxy Brown
64 The Fratellis
59 Free Kitten
71 French Kicks
79 Frightened Rabbit
73 The Futureheads
68 The Gossip
81 Al Green
51 G-Unit
72 Ed Harcourt
79 Emmylou Harris
82 HEALTH
59 Heloise And The Savoir Faire
85 Hercules And Love Affair
77 John Hiatt
65 Vanessa Hudgens
77 James Hunter
70 Islands
69 Jewel
79 Joan As Police Woman
71 Joan Of Arc
58 Scarlett Johansson
69 John & Jehn
59 Judas Priest
75 Kidz In The Hall
71 Fern Knight
65 The Kooks
69 Lady Antebellum
74 Ladytron
65 Langhorne Slim
77 The Last Shadow Puppets
67 Cyndi Lauper
66 Les Savy Fav
64 Leona Lewis
72 Jamie Lidell
71 Lil Mama
83 Lil Wayne
72 Local H
73 The Long Blondes
80 Los Campesinos!
45 Los Lonely Boys
66 Lyrics Born
69 M83
65 Madonna
74 Man Man
79 Aimee Mann
80 Marc Ribot's Ceramic Dog
67 Mates Of State
79 Matmos
80 James McMurtry
70 Colin Meloy
71 Midnight Juggernauts
65 Kylie Minogue
63 Moby
63 Alanis Morissette
69 Van Morrison
57 Motley Crue
66 Jason Mraz
74 The M's
79 Mudcrutch
77 Mudhoney
49 The Music
71 My Brightest Diamond
70 My Morning Jacket
64 N.E.R.D. [The Neptunes]
76 The Night Marchers
66 Nine Inch Nails
77 Nine Inch Nails
78 No Age
80 Jim Noir
76 The Notwist
54 The Offspring
72 Old 97's
87 Opeth
59 The Orb
62 James Pants
48 Katy Perry
71 Phantom Planet
84 Sam Phillips
56 The Pigeon Detectives
72 Plies
69 Robert Pollard
83 Ponytail
85 Portishead
65 The Proclaimers
75 Prodigy [of Mobb Deep]
71 Pyramids
79 R.E.M.
48 The Rascals
86 Robyn
72 The Rolling Stones
79 The Roots
48 Gavin Rossdale
72 Russian Circles
66 RZA
76 Santogold
86 Shearwater
81 Sigur Rós
78 Silver Jews
60 Carly Simon
62 Ashlee Simpson
76 Sloan
73 Sam Sparro
77 Spiritualized
89 Steinski
75 Subtle
66 Donna Summer
81 Sun Kil Moon
66 Supergrass
71 The Sword
61 Tapes 'n Tapes
64 Three 6 Mafia
76 Thrice
76 Tilly And The Wall
64 The Ting Tings
51 Tokio Hotel
67 Tokyo Police Club
65 Usher
76 Vetiver
69 The Virgins
76 Martha Wainwright
75 Was (Not Was)
67 The Watson Twins
64 We Are Scientists
65 The Wedding Present
64 Weezer
76 White Denim
81 Cassandra Wilson
88 Dennis Wilson
61 Steve Winwood
78 Wolf Parade
63 The Zutons

Stars indicate the most critically-acclaimed albums.

Boxer
by The National


8.8

based on 31 reviews
Read critic reviews
How did we calculate this?

based on 187 votes
Read user comments
Rate this album

Official Artist Site

Sufjan Stevens is among the guests on the Brooklyn band's follow-up to their acclaimed 2005 release 'Alligator.'

LABEL:	Beggars Banquet
RELEASE DATE:	22 May 2007
DISCS:	1 disc
GENRE(S):	Indie, Rock

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

musicOMH.com

The National were worried that they wouldn't be able to follow up Alligator, that fans would be disappointed. Boxer proves their fears ungrounded - and that Alligator was no one classic wonder.

100

Stylus Magazine

Boxer is a National album through and through but blessed with a restraint and self-assuredness of a band on top of its game, resulting in a startling masterpiece on par with Turn on the Bright Lights, Bows & Arrows, or any other austere tribute to urban alienation you care to name.

100

The Onion (A.V. Club)

To those with time for only a passing glance, it could conceivably come across as dull, but a close look at monumental songs like "Start A War" and the scathingly sad, funny "Slow Show" will reveal bleak, black diamonds—precious, glimmering, and lasting.

100

Slant Magazine

Boxer works best as a mood piece; it's also the first National release to work as a whole, and it's the best album I've heard so far this year.

100

Delusions of Adequacy

To be succinct and frank, Boxer is superb. Not only did The National create a startling, astonishing work of genius but they also crafted an album that is one beautiful piece of art.

Filter

While Boxer lacks a knockout punch like last album’s 13th round uppercut “Mr. November,” all scorecards still have the National besting David Berman to remain indie rock’s “Great White Mope.”

No Ripcord

With The Boxer, The National has not only crafted a contender for Album of the Year.

Drowned In Sound

It is the subtle orchestral aspect to the record that stands out, with the same washed arrangements that Grizzly Bear and close cohorts Clogs manage to incorporate so casually.

NOW Magazine

A huge improvement over Alligator, and likely to launch the band into a new phase.

Sputnikmusic

If Alligator was The National's first masterpiece then Boxer is surely their second, a 12-song journey that thoroughly exemplifies everything that a modern rock band should be capable of.

PopMatters

This album, like all great albums, somehow transcends all the factors that makes it work, absorbs them in a seamless whole and breaks your heart in the process.

The Phoenix

Like a perfectly attired woman, the National are fleetingly alluring, never gaudy, subtly enchanting.

Pitchfork

Like those on their last album, these songs reveal themselves gradually but surely, building to the inevitable moment when they hit you in the gut. It's the rare album that gives back whatever you put into it.

cokemachineglow

If there is one thing that might be wrong with this album -- besides an uneventful last third -- is that the album might be too tailor-made for music critics worn out by music fatigue, hype fatigue, and irony fatigue.

Lost At Sea

Boxer is another accomplishment for The National; more understated than Alligator, yet just as alluring, and right on target.

Dot Music

It gathers momentum slowly, making for a brew so quietly potent and pulsating with repressed energy you're almost afraid to leave the room while it's playing in case it explodes messily all over the walls.

Alternative Press

Sometimes, the hype is right. [Jul 2007, p.170]

Spin

High drama of the blunt, uncliched sort unheard since the Afghan Whigs' '90s heyday. [Jun 2007, p.94]

Uncut

The core of the album lies in a cluster of gorgeously restrained, piercingly evocative pieces built mostly from acoustic instruments. [Jun 2007, p.94]

Mojo

After a few spins its beautifully arranged songs get scratched into your soul. [Jun 2007, p.100]

All Music Guide

As focused as it is ambitious, Boxeris riveting.

Dusted Magazine

Their exploration of the genre's boundaries is so lithe and confident, and their studied aloofness here so convincing, that the familiarity comes across as authenticity and the restless impulse for expansion feels, at times, transcendent.

Billboard

Matt Berninger's murmuring, stream-of-conscious narratives are delivered with convincing melodrama, with few clunkers. [26 May 2007]

Rolling Stone

The songs are subtler, statelier, with Matt Berninger's baritone exuding lonesome warmth. [31 May 2007, p.93]

Hartford Courant

The National hews too closely to established formula on "Boxer," content to revisit previously explored territory without expanding its sound.

Under The Radar

The record is slightly less New Wave-y than its predecessor with many of the tracks taking on a more organic polish. [#17, p.86]

The New York Times

There are verbal nuggets throughout the album... but it’s not the antihero sentiments that make the songs memorable; it’s the methodical yet obsessive patterns that frame them.

New Musical Express

A set of heartbreak hymns to sob come curfew time.

The Guardian

In the absence of specific moments of revelation, the general melancholy becomes wearing.

Paste Magazine

Here, most gestures remain a bit too consciously panoramic—elegant enough for comfort but often not chancy enough to be breathtaking.

Playlouder

A patchy, flawed effort.

The average user rating for this album is 8.8 (out of 10) based on 187 User Votes
Note: User votes are NOT included in the Metascore calculation.

Joe Doe gave it a10:
It's an absolutely great album! I've heard them for the first time on got radio just a couple of hours before. And yes, I already have the album.

TBone gave it a9:
After having this whole album in my playlists for a few months, I have to say, the only song I could really pull is Slow Show. Theres a lot of hooks in all of these. Pretty good.

Linus G. gave it a10:
"We expected something, something better than before, we expected something more" is not something you can say about this album. Perfect. Best sing-a-long of the year.

Barry P. gave it a10:
On first listening the opening tracks impacted immediately and then I thought it tailed off. When I went back to it I started listening more and more to the second half of the album and it just keeps growing. I will now choose to listen to the last couple of tracks like Ada as much as Fake Empire. Patience rewards and I think this will eventually be regarded as one of the great albums of recent years. I think it has more depth than Alligator.

MC gave it a9:
Excellent. Honest lyrics, great music. I especially love the drumming, as well as the overall mood of the album.

Carlos A. gave it a10:
One of the best in the last five years. Fresh, harmonic, deep. As much you listen it as much you will discover and like it. It can take time but in the end you will love these guys. Don´t forget Alligator, another surprise for me after listening Boxer.

boom s. gave it a6:
i was blown away initially by this release - on subsequent listens i find myself getting more uninterested and bored of this album. Some great songs dispersed amongst filler

Boxer by The National

Boxer
by The National