Awfully Deep
by Roots Manuva
  • Record Label: Big Dada
  • Release Date: Apr 19, 2005
Metascore
80

Generally favorable reviews - based on 19 Critic Reviews

Critic score distribution:
  1. Positive: 16 out of 19
  2. Mixed: 3 out of 19
  3. Negative: 0 out of 19
  1. Pitchfork
    64
    Awfully Deep makes for churning, menacing background music.
  2. Uncut
    80
    THe good stuff is terrific. [Mar 2005, p.104]
    All this publication's reviews
  3. PopMatters
    70
    Not a brilliant album, not his best (that remains Run Come Save Me), just a damn fine selection of mood-groove-dub-flavours by one of music's true inimicables.
  5. Mojo
    80
    Smith's best, most satisfying album to date. [Mar 2005, p.106]
    All this publication's reviews
  6. Q Magazine
    80
    Smith's greatest talent lies in his surreal, witty wordplay and avuncular tone, and the way they combine to make what could be the usual rap anger sound both intimate and strangely uplifting. [Feb 2005, p.95]
    All this publication's reviews
  7. New Musical Express (NME)
    90
    A set of immense maturity that never rubs your nose in its thematic complexity, compositional innovation and thunderous thump-beats. [29 Jan 2005, p.58]
    All this publication's reviews
  8. The Guardian
    100
    Smith has crafted an album that is deft, addictive and profoundly musical, and it feels like a fresh-minted classic.
  9. Entertainment Weekly
    83
    A thrilling mix of moody ambivalence and soulful reggae-tinged hip-hop. [27 May 2005, p.1341]
    All this publication's reviews
  10. Dusted Magazine
    80
    Smith’s tracks are both banging and self-effacing, yet the two opposite impulses never seem fully at odds with each other.
  11. Tiny Mix Tapes
    80
    The music is often awesomely original.
  12. Blender
    70
    It's protest music gone gleefully psycho. [Jul 2005, p.122]
    All this publication's reviews
  13. Dot Music
    80
    It’s Manuva’s startling honesty which first impresses.
  14. Stylus Magazine
    91
    His best [album] yet, his most fully-formed, emotionally engaging and sonically rewarding.
  15. Playlouder
    80
    A stealthy, smoking beast of a thing: hip hop with a British passport and dubplate roots, embroidered with wiggly, scratching sound effects and made-to-measure production.
  16. ShakingThrough.net
    82
    Awfully Deep is another strong release for Smith, and while it doesn’t sport the effortless flow of his debut or the rich variety of Run Come Save Me, its considered assessment of where he’s been and where he might be heading helps the album more than live up to its title.
  17. Junkmedia
    70
    Awfully Deep, on the whole, is a bold, ambitious swing for the fences. But, like it or not, the game's done changed, and Manuva '05 sounds way too much like Manuva '01.

Awards & Rankings

82
#82 Best Album of 2005

User Reviews

All reviews »
User Score
8.5

Universal acclaim- based on 18 Ratings

User score distribution:
  1. Positive: 16 out of 18
  2. Mixed: 1 out of 18
  3. Negative: 1 out of 18
  1. Jimmy
    Jan 12, 2006
    10
    Pure Goodness
  2. ChickenSupreme
    Apr 14, 2005
    9
    One of the albums of the year for sure as Mr Smith once again matches dub up with electro squelches to create a very personal and touching album.
  3. AndrewO
    Mar 30, 2005
    10
    At times....dark, bright, sad, happy, serious, playfull...but entirely honest. Almost a "Brand New Second Hand."
See all user reviews »