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Zero 7
Stars indicate the most critically-acclaimed albums.
Room On Fire
Generally favorable reviews
Based on 30 critic reviews
How did we calculate this?
Based on 121 votes
Read user comments
Rate this album >
Album Info
Label: RCA
Release Date: 28 October 2003
Discs: 1 disc
Genre(s): Indie, Rock, Alternative
Summary
This eagerly-awaited second LP for the heralded/hyped New York five-piece was produced by Gordon Raphael (who also produced their debut 'Is This It?') after aborted sessions working with Radiohead producer Nigel Godrich.
Also By This Artist: First Impressions Of Earth Is This It?
Also On Metacritic
MUSIC: Albert Hammond, Jr.: Yours To Keep
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...
Q Magazine
Pretty much everything a second album needs to be, it's like Is This It but more emotional, more colourful, slightly better. [Nov 2003, p.102]
Spin
Room's similarity to its predecessor ultimately bespeaks a purity of vision, not a dearth of new ideas. [Dec 2003, p.121]
Drowned In Sound
An adrenaline-fueled head-rush of precision-perfect pop tunes about modern life.
Read Full Review >Alternative Press
Better than its predecessor. [Dec 2003, p.150]
Nude As The News
The album is arguably better than the group's much-heralded debut, if by "better" we just mean more sonically impressive overall.
Read Full Review >New Musical Express
‘Room On Fire’ is a refining and tinkering with The Strokes sound, a carefully calibrated attempt not to fuck up too early in the face of untold temptations. The results are still sleek, sexy and thrilling, with a tantalising promise of even better to come.
Read Full Review >Neumu.net
The Strokes don't make the most original sounding music you've ever heard, but they make something that is only The Strokes.
Read Full Review >PopMatters
There's so much more musical depth on Room on Fire, that it makes most of the band's earlier songs sound stale in comparison.
Read Full Review >Junkmedia
Room on Fire is a passionate, 32-minute burning effigy of the seemingly insurmountable expectations fans and critics had for the record.
Read Full Review >Filter
It literally sounds like the Strokes, but it lacks heart. Which means it replicates the first album in form, but not substance. [#8, p.100]
All Music Guide
This compressed feel, the precision of the band's playing and arrangements, and the way every song comes to an abrupt stop sometimes make the album sound too closed-off.
Read Full Review >The Onion (A.V. Club)
On Room On Fire, the band has the good sense to do what it does best and leave listeners wanting more.
Read Full Review >Pitchfork
That there's nothing new or innovative to be found here is sure to be a common complaint, though only those who prize evolution over knowing one's strengths will cry fraud.
Read Full Review >Rolling Stone
In the face of hysterical expectation, the Strokes have resisted the temptation to hit the brakes, grow up and screw around with a sound that doesn't need fixing -- yet.
Read Full Review >Uncut
[Casablancas'] remarkable performance enlivens even the album's most underwhelming passages. [Nov 2003, p.108]
Entertainment Weekly
Anyone who invested anything in Is This It is destined to walk away from Room On Fire a little disappointed. [31 Oct 2003, p.71]
Stylus Magazine
Review 1: This is what they do- they don’t ape other bands. They ape pop music. And they do it better than any other band right now. [score=80]; Review 2: 33 minutes and 34 seconds of the SAME album! [score=65]
Mojo
The Strokes come across as a world-sized band that's tethering itself.... Nonetheless, this record is good. [Nov 2003, p.124]
Dusted Magazine
It’s a better album than Is This It, but then again, so were a dozen other rock records that year.
Read Full Review >E! Online
Sounds like it was recorded in a tin can and constructed from leftovers off the group's debut.
Read Full Review >Trouser Press
There's nothing about the quintet's second album that audibly acknowledges the impact of its debut.
Read Full Review >Magnet
There's something undeniably mechanical about Room On Fire. [#61, p.107]
The Guardian
A roaring opener, a trio of great potential singles and a remarkable slow number successfully divert attention from the fact that half of Room on Fire is uninspired filler.
Read Full Review >Blender
The fine distinction between cool and blase, aloof and distant, seems to have eluded them. [Nov 2003, p.106]
Austin Chronicle
Even the half-hearted retreads ("You Talk Way Too Much," "Between Love & Hate") cashing in on the notoriously unwashed NYC quintet's debut can't muster a wink.
Read Full Review >Playlouder
There's little of the pop sparkle that shone through the likes of 'The Modern Age' and 'Last Nite' even when - as with 'You Talk Way Too Much' - they're rewriting old material, and Julian's vocals are, to be blunt, awful, sounding uncomfortable to record and rather complacently nasal.
Read Full Review >What Our Users Said
The average user rating for this album is 8.2 (out of 10) based on 121 User Votes
Note: User votes are NOT included in the Metascore calculation.
Ben F. gave it a10:
A splendid album. Like Is This It?, it shows what good rock should be like.
thirdman gave it a6:
For the band whose appeal almost entirely depended upon its catchy song-writing skills, it was nigh impossible to repeat its intensity of the 1st album, especially because all the songs were coming out of one guy's brain. Some song-writers are smarter about it, and don't show all their tricks in one album and depend more on the variety of their musical craftsmanship (like Dylan, Bowie, etc) and become known for their musical longevity, but clearly Casablancas wasn't going about his creative process that way, and it shows in this 2nd album. Namely, he seems to have run out of his melodic ideas, and the majority of the songs in this album sound like the songs in the 1st album (or weaker variations of them). That is not just due to the fact that everybody in the band plays exactly the same way as in the 1st album (as many pointed out), or that it was produced in the identical manner as in the 1st, but it certainly doesn't help in terms of painfully highlighting the obvious lack of variety in its song-writings. That said, it's a decent album, and it would've been rated higher if everybody on this planet hasn't already listened to their 1st album millions of times.
Jaimy gave it a10:
JUST GREAT!!!! I listened this album in side out!
Jeremiah T. gave it a9:
The Strokes are back! This time with a good record, not a great one. It's still really good; believe me I love The Strokes. But, it falls, compared to "Is This It".
EddieEinar M. gave it a10:
A great second outing from the Strokes. Opening up with "What Ever Happened?" in which Jules sings "I Wanna be forgotten/And I Don't wanna reminded" is not the likeliest way of starting of your second album. The band has developed since their stunning debut, and although some of the songs feels like Is This It-songs, there are some stunning achievements that proves that the Strokes is a band on the move; swiftly developing. I even secretly maybe prefer this before Is This It - hey, what can I poor boy do? He can lose great songs as 12:51, You Talk Way Too Much and Under Control, tjhat's what he can do.
Oligami gave it a9:
This is pop. And pop doesn't get much better than this without being totally embarrassing. It's less potent than the debut, and in order to compensate that it dips slightly into reggae and soul (which turns out to be great!).
Giacomo P gave it a10:
another great album.Amazing!
