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Entertainment Weekly

In their hyperkinetic hands, even integrating an acoustic standup bass with electronic beats seems perfectly natural. [20 June 2008, p.66]

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NOW Magazine

A streamlined slab of silky, soul-soaked rock music, Seeing Sounds succeeds in capturing the best experiments on their first two albums while injecting new-school sequences into the mix.

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Hot Press

Production superstars The Neptunes get back to penning their own tunes – with highly impressive results.

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The Onion (A.V. Club)

N.E.R.D.'s gonzo commitment to crossing genre boundaries in sometimes silly, nonsensical ways remains surprisingly tenable.

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Billboard

Thematically starved, Seeing Sounds is nonetheless a sonic feast.

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PopMatters

What can be concluded at this point is that, minor lyrical complaints aside, they have crafted their most consistent album and one of the best genre-blurring club records since M.I.A.’s "Kala."

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Austin Chronicle

N.E.R.D's third album, an "Anti Matter" suggestion that devotees "tilt your head back and close your eyes" and try Seeing Sounds, bangs frantic enough to entice one serious auditory seizure.

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Drowned In Sound

While Seeing Sounds is a marginal improvement on N*E*R*D’s second album, and a massive leap forward from Pharrell’s damp-squib of a solo record, it doesn’t quite reach the heights of (either version of) their debut, let alone the pick of Pharrell and Chad’s production work for other people.

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Dot Music

A few club chants ("You jump around like you ADHD! ADHD! ADHD!") and heavy beats crop up throughout but, in the main, N*E*R*D ironically struggle to break out of their own defined anything-goes freedom on what's just a solid record.

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Blender

Williams' rapping is thankfully peripheral and the music is a fantastic, distracting mess. [Aug 2008, p.90]

Observer Music Monthly

They undoubtedly still see sounds others only dream of, but sometimes that vision is a little clouded.

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Rolling Stone

The Neptunes don't necessarily need guest MCs to make a great album of their own, but if they want their rhymes to keep up with the strength of their tunes, they need to dig a little deeper than this.

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Slant Magazine

To be fair, there aren't any real clunkers to be found on Seeing Sounds and lead single 'Everyone Nose (All the Girls Standing in Line for the Bathroom)' and album closer 'Laugh About It' are perfectly serviceable Neptunes tracks, but only two tunes, 'Spaz' and 'You Know What' are very visionary.

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All Music Guide

Despite all the weight, those songs still have a way of seeming as easy and carefree as the moments when N.E.R.D. are simply bashing away (sometimes over agitated drum'n'bass), blowing off steam, and talking ridiculous nonsense. Whether taken as a diversion of throwaway fun or a deeper (or peculiar) look into what makes these men tick, the album succeeds.

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The New York Times

While Seeing Sounds is a triumph of will, it is not quite a triumph.

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RapReviews.com

You see, the first 5 songs set the album up to be a pure party album - which actually would have worked a lot better, with the last track being a comedown moment. But then, delusions of adequacy spring up and the LP ends up shooting off in different tangents, where musically it is solid (if entirely unchallenging), but lyrically/conceptually it do nothing for you.

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Pitchfork

Like its unexpected stylistic kin My Morning Jacket's Evil Urges, Seeing Sounds finds its creators partaking in the subversively phallocentric narcissism of staring at their CD collections, confusing music listening with music understanding rather than enjoyment.

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The Guardian

You leave Seeing Sounds convinced that Williams and Hugo are no closer to their dream of inventing a successful R&B/rock hybrid.

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Prefix Magazine

Keep trying N.E.R.D., you’re not even close to blowing us away here.

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What Our Users Said

The average user rating for this album is 7.8 (out of 10) based on 18 User Votes

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

MICKEY Y gave it a10:
An amazing album non stop excellent tunes its as good as in search of and much better than fly or die. Nobody can say this album is rubbish as every other album out this year does not come anywhere close to the geneis of N*E*R*D.

c Meezy gave it an8:
A really fun all-around listen. Some weaker tracks but some real dope bangers and smooth stuff thrown in.

Robert F gave it an8:
This album is not as bad as the rating states, in fact windows and anti matter are crazy. This album is like the drunken master of rock.

Adam S gave it a9:
An excellent album. Well worth purchasing. N.E.R.D. have evolved into something qute different and after Pharrels not so excellent solo venture I am glad this album is what it is. Pick it up and turn it up!

Danny L gave it a10:
The most inventive and ambitious album a minded hip hop/alternative rock group could do, period!

Jeff G gave it an8:
The first five tracks are club fodder with an added bit of individuality. They beat mainstream hip-hop, but not by much. The second half of the album is great. These tracks, especially "Yeah You," "Love Bomb," and my favorite, "Sooner or Later," feature great harmonic progressions. Anyone looking to find great lyrics from NERD would be more successful getting a glass of water from a stick. It's a weird, drugged-out side project in nature, and no one should expect literary profundity here. I like NERD for their songwriting abilities and their attitude toward crashing our concepts of genre into one another constantly. If you're not into this sort of thing, you won't be into NERD.

Al D gave it a6:
I am somewhat disappointed after listening to this album a few times. There are some excellent tracks (Spaz, Anti Matter, Everybody Nose) but then there is some nonsense that wouldn't be acceptable from cutting-edge artists. NERD will quickly retreat to the excuse "we made this music for ourselves and our fans" but that is no excuse for some of the filler in this album. Fly or Die was so perfect that this album seems like they needed a reason to get the band back together again.

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