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Zero 7
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 239 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
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 239 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.
