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Stars indicate the most critically-acclaimed albums.

()
by Sigur Rós


9.0

based on 20 reviews
Read critic reviews
How did we calculate this?

based on 42 votes
Read user comments
Rate this album

Official Artist Site

The very, very distinctive Icelandic band generated an enormous amount of positive press (and deservingly so) for their previous effort, 'Ágætis Byrjun,' which led to a major-label deal and this album, which, like each of its eight tracks, does not have a real title.

LABEL:	MCA / Fat Cat
RELEASE DATE:	29 October 2002
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

Alternative Press

Some of the most evocative music of this century. [Dec 2002, p.97]

100

Trouser Press

The group's masterpiece.

The Onion (A.V. Club)

It actually transcends its predecessor in its unsettling, under-the-skin beauty.

Entertainment Weekly

The Icelandic quartet again create an ethereal stir with sparse, atmospheric melodies and a falsetto wail, often recalling the sonic swirl of Stateside slow-core acts like Low. [1 Nov 2002, p.70]

Uncut

The music here is intimate yet remote. [Dec 2002, p.140]

Almost Cool

It's one of those releases that takes awhile to seep in completely, and while there are a great deal of amazing songs, it doesn't move me quite as much as their last disc.

Neumu.net

The album coheres; it's a full body of work intended to be heard holistically, not simply as a collection of songs. But it takes some work. You must be an active listener to appreciate it fully.

Rolling Stone

This impressive follow-up sounds remarkably similar -- it's just packaged more pretentiously.

Spin

On (), the band steer their ghost ship into darker waters, erecting a vast, austere cathedral of sound, then sticking around to score a funeral mass inside. [Dec 2002, p.140]

Blender

Charming and enrapturing, adrift in its own unique, invented world. [#11, p.142]

Playlouder

Sigur Ros do this better than anyone else right now.

Mojo

The album rocks, its symphonic depth and stratosphere-surfing melodies more affecting with each subsequent listen. [Jan 2003, p.98]

Dusted Magazine

When the mood allows, and there's time to let it all sink in, an album like ( ) is indispensable nearly from beginning to end.

Q Magazine

A masterpiece of bombed orchestral elegance, at once expansive and intense. [Dec 2002, p.112]

All Music Guide

The fact that the emotional extremes are few and far between makes the album difficult to wade through -- its impact would've been tripled with about half an hour lopped off, but where to begin?

Pitchfork

A decent follow-up from a band who has already proven themselves capable of much, much more.

Stylus Magazine

More inventive song writing and a less antagonistic stance could have helped Sigur Ros create something as equally stirring as their previous album.

New Musical Express

When it works its magic, as on the opening suite of tracks, you will happily sit mesmerised for seven or eight minutes of glimmering sonic twilight and translucently tingling ambi-organic pearly-dewdrops droppery. But when the spell is broken, as on two or three later tunes, when more traditional instrumentation turns up late and dishevelled for a half-hearted cosmic-rock supernova, the effect is rather like gatecrashing some purgatorial soundcheck by a Pink Floyd covers band in, say, 1968. Or possibly Spiritualized.

PopMatters

So maybe there's nothing here more interesting or deep or significant than what it is on the surface: a very beautiful record that means nothing more than what it is...

Splendid

An overblown, overhyped dreamy swirl of sound that can't commit itself to being anything.

The average user rating for this album is 9.0 (out of 10) based on 42 User Votes
Note: User votes are NOT included in the Metascore calculation.

Julia A gave it a7:
I like this band so much...but apparently I can't get this album wholly.This album felt like they just roam in one soundscape and going nowhere. But of course, Jonsi could do no wrong with his voice :)

Colin B gave it a10:
This album is absolutely amazing. I actually feel quite sorry for the people who can't appreciate it. It is seep and it is moving and if you can't feel it then... I first heard it when I was sober but if you listen to it when you are stoned and switch all the lights off in the room and just lie there it's like nothing you've ever experienced before.

Chris M gave it a7:
this album evinces feelings of beauty and boredom, sometimes simultaneously. the closing tracks really drag and seem kind of fractious, but the opening songs are monumentally gorgeous. great study music.

Nuno A gave it a10:
Best concept album since Dark Side of the Moon (sorry for the Radiohead fans :p)

Agaetis Byrjun gave it a10:
Best album I've ever heard

Jacob D gave it a 10:
This is the first album I've purchased in a year, for whatever reason, I never buy CD's. I'd heard a little Sigur Ros from my friend Sam, and I liked it, so, I decided to go out on a limb and purchase () by Sigur Ros. Best Goddamned fifteen bucks I've ever spent! The ambience and mood that this album creates is absolutely spectactular. Jon Por has the most beautiful voice ever, and he plays a better bowed guitar than Jimmy Page did, or at least uses the bow more effectively that Jimmy Page. Everytime I listen to this disc, which has been everyday now, I am swept and taken by various emotions, depending on how I'm feeling. When I first listened to it, Track one made me want to cry, I didn't, but I felt the emotions boiling inside me. This is the first modern band (read: post grunge) that I've gotten excited about! Fantastic! Now, if you'll excuse me, I've got some Icelandic vocab words to study.

grum D gave it a 10:
Yes, i've heard the other albums, and they are good. But this one does it best. The songs on the cd are really good, but if you've ever seen sigur ros live its just something out of this world. They put allot of work into it all, id give it 20 if i could.

() by Sigur Rós

()
by Sigur Rós