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
2562
54
30 Seconds to Mars
62
50 Cent
71
AC/DC
70
The Album Leaf
52
Kris Allen
68
Tori Amos
66
Animal Collective
84
Animal Collective
77
Annie
57
Apse
63
Asobi Seksu
59
Bad Lieutenant
83
Julianna Barwick
82
Beach House
72
Beak>
72
Bibio
65
Justin Bieber
76
Biffy Clyro
74
Blakroc
75
Mary J. Blige
78
Blockhead
52
Bon Jovi
54
Susan Boyle
57
The Bravery
39
Chris Brown
64
V.V. Brown
70
Basia Bulat
79
Chew Lips
74
Citay
65
Clipse
66
Cold War Kids
75
The Cribs
58
Dashboard Confessional
81
Dave Rawlings Machine
70
Delphic
78
The Doors
58
Echo & The Bunnymen
73
Edan
59
Editors
69
Eels
80
Felt
74
First Aid Kit
69
Flyleaf
83
Four Tet
82
Ben Frost
82
Fucked Up
83
Charlotte Gainsbourg
63
The Gilded Palace Of Sin
68
Githead
65
Joe Goddard
58
Good Shoes
72
Gucci Mane
75
Holopaw
82
Jesca Hoop
79
Hot Chip
72
The Hot Rats
88
Ray Wylie Hubbard
54
Hurricane Chris
66
Allison Iraheta
59
Jay Sean
82
Freedy Johnston
57
Nick Jonas And The Administration
73
Norah Jones
49
Juvenile
58
Ke$ha
62
R. Kelly
66
Alicia Keys
68
Kid Sister
81
King Midas Sound
63
Lady Antebellum
76
Lady GaGa
71
Adam Lambert
78
Lawrence Arabia
61
Leona Lewis
74
Lightspeed Champion
36
Lil Wayne
82
Lindstrom & Christabelle
77
Lissie
78
Los Campesinos!
70
Lostprophets
73
Magnetic Fields
72
Massive Attack
64
John Mayer
71
Paul McCartney
58
Katherine McPhee
86
Memory Tapes
72
Midlake
88
Motion City Soundtrack
63
Mr. Hudson
53
Mudvayne
75
Oh No Ono
70
OK Go
72
Ola Podrida
61
OneRepublic
80
Owen Pallett
80
Pantha du Prince
90
Tom Petty & The Heartbreakers
80
Phantogram
60
Pit Er Pat
63
Priestess
70
Radian
79
Corinne Bailey Rae
54
Rakim
79
Real Estate
77
Retribution Gospel Choir
76
Rihanna
64
Rjd2
65
Omar Rodriguez-Lopez
77
Sade
77
Gil Scott-Heron
72
Shakira
82
Shining
61
Snoop Dogg
62
Snow Patrol
71
The Soft Pack
80
Spoon
64
Ringo Starr
59
Stereophonics
76
Angie Stone
79
Surfer Blood
74
Switchfoot
75
Them Crooked Vultures
74
Robin Thicke
50
Timbaland
79
tUnE-YaRDs
80
Vampire Weekend
79
Laura Veirs
79
Tom Waits
78
Wale
65
The Watson Twins
66
Kanye West
76
The Whitefield Brothers
64
Robbie Williams
80
Yeasayer
62
Young Money
75
Neil Young
61
Rob Zombie
Stars indicate the most critically-acclaimed albums.
Hail To The Thief
Universal acclaim
Based on 26 critic reviews
How did we calculate this?
Based on 241 votes
Read user comments
Rate this album >
Album Info
Label: Capitol
Release Date: 10 June 2003
Discs: 1 disc
Genre(s): Alternative, Rock
Summary
Not quite the return to the "rock" side of Radiohead as originally believed (although pretty close), the band's sixth album (produced again by Nigel Godrich) retains some of the experimental electronica elements of its predecessors Kid A and Amnesiac. Note that each of the tracks on the album has an alternate title, as does the album itself (aka 'The Gloaming').
Also By This Artist: Amnesiac I Might Be Wrong: Live Recordings In Rainbows Kid A
Also On Metacritic
MUSIC: Thom Yorke: The Eraser
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...
Alternative Press
There's something for everyone here. [Jul 2003, p.120]
Spin
It feels more like a band playingto a multitude of strengths than the formal wrestling of Kid A. [Jul 2003, p.103]
Filter
From a technical standpoint, it's astounding.... But from a purely aesthetic standpoint, it's just downright unmusical. [#5, p.86]
Pitchfork
For its moments of gravity and excellence, Hail to the Thief is an arrow pointing toward the clearly darker, more frenetic territory the band have up to now only poked at curiously.
Read Full Review >E! Online
If you haven't already pledged your allegiance to Radiohead, this isn't gonna turn you.
Read Full Review >Urb
The band seems more comfortable in the studio than ever. [Aug 2003, p.88]
The Onion (A.V. Club)
Radiohead effectively split the difference between its best-known incarnations on Hail To The Thief, which brings the group's Consecutive Great Albums total to a remarkable five.
Read Full Review >Uncut
For all its muddied textures and sideways lurches, it is a magnificently engaging and expansive work. [Jul 2003, p.112]
ShakingThrough.net
Hail lacks the overriding musical, thematic or experimental coherence of the band's post-Pablo Honey work. But it is a strong collection of discrete tracks, like an unreleased B-sides collection finally seeing the light of day.
Read Full Review >Dot Music
It's startling that a commercial rock band could sound this blood-and-oxygen vital, this meaningful and mighty six albums into their career.
Read Full Review >PopMatters
An incredible album from a band that continues to redefine its boundaries.
Read Full Review >Delusions of Adequacy
This is truly an album that will stay with you once you’ve let it work its way in.
Read Full Review >Flak Magazine
Of course it's political, and of course it continues to merge electronic experimentation with more familiar rock structures; but it employs all those debate-igniting props simply to further the band's more pressing agenda: to tirelessly explore beauty's terrible fragility.
Read Full Review >Amazon.com
Like all of the band’s best work, Thief requires more than a few listens to fully appreciate, but those who stick around will be richly rewarded.
Read Full Review >Rolling Stone
Despite the anger and bitterness, Hail to the Thief is more musically inviting than Radiohead's last two outings.
Read Full Review >All Music Guide
Despite the fact that it seems more like a bunch of songs on a disc than a singular body, its impact is substantial.
Read Full Review >Mojo
Coheres as well as anything else in their canon. [Jun 2003, p.90]
Stylus Magazine
While it’s unrealistic to expect another Kid A-like transformation, by pulling all those familiar elements together, Hail to the Thief sounds, well, a little familiar. [Note: Score listed is an average of two separate reviews: a 68 and a 90.]
Read Full Review >New Musical Express (NME)
That's not to say there's not some exceptional music on this record, it's just once again the impact of the best moments is dulled by the inclusion of some indifferent electronic compositions.
Read Full Review >Q Magazine
As admirable as Radiohead's quest ongoing quest to ignore expectations, tear up the manual and proudly rebel against the limitations of 4/4 time seems, some of Hail To The Thief comes dangerously close to being all experimentalism and precious little substance. [Jul 2003, p.98]
The Guardian
Hail to the Thief's big drawback has less to do with its similarity to its predecessor than the sense that Radiohead's famed gloominess is becoming self-parodic.
Read Full Review >Blender
The album seems resigned, defeated, passive -- like an hour-long sigh. [#17, p.130]
Austin Chronicle
The new songs have attitude, but they sound like outtakes from 2000's classic Kid A and 2001's lesser Amnesiac.
Read Full Review >What Our Users Said
The average user rating for this album is 8.8 (out of 10) based on 241 User Votes
Note: User votes are NOT included in the Metascore calculation.
Reid M gave it a10:
This album has it all. The most versatile, poetic, beautiful, ugly, gritty, engaging, sick, ass-kicking piece of intelligent, thought-provoking rock-n-roll I've heard in a long time.
DexStud gave it a9:
Not for everyone, including pop fans. But those who do give this album a try will be greatly rewarded with an awesome, original sounding album.
leigh m gave it a10:
Underrated. this album is a collection of so many different genres. it is a prime example of Radiohead's versatility. Its superb.
Tim B gave it a10:
This album doesn't get the credit it deserves. It is one of Radiohead's best!!!
Seb H gave it a6:
I've been listening to this on and off for 5 years and yet I still see it as their worst since Pablo Honey. Amnesiac was much better because it at least had Pyramid Song and Knives Out (two of their best ever). You might say that it's still a great album compared with everything else that's being churned out these days, but I can't agree with that either. It's not rousing, falls into large lapses of self-parody and is far too long to get through. Sonically, it's not textured to the same beautiful level of OK Computer or The Bends and is even at times unlistenable and overly experimental. There are a few great songs I have to admit - There There, 2+2=5, Where I End And You Begin and, of course, Go To Sleep. But otherwise it's passable at best. In Rainbows, OK Computer, Kid A and The Bends all kick this one's ass.
Ozz L gave it a9:
A inventive and radical album. Sometimes the crazy prouction and sounds pay off, on occasions they do not, but on the whole it's another great album.
richard gave it an8:
Radiohead sets the bar so high for themselves that it is difficult to rate their music. for most groups this would be considered their tour de force but for Radiohead, it comes off as just another fantastic album. With it they cement their place in history alongside Zeppelin and The Beatles. They past The Rolling Stones a long time ago.
