- Critic score
- Publication
- By date
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UrbThe songs heave with shockingly real energy. [May 2005, p.85]
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Every track on Axes offers something exciting for those who care to listen.
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New Musical Express (NME)Electrelane could do with tightening their concentration spans, but everything else is just fine and dandy thank you. [7 May 2005, p.66]
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The WireIt's clear... that the quartet... are growing in confidence and ideas. [#256, p.54]
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While it feels like they're still finding their way and discovering what they're capable of, it's clear there's potential for greatness and longevity.
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Axes works as an hour-long piece of tension, dread, and release, with little room for interpretation, demanding to be listened to as a whole.
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I’ll always give credit for trying something new, but I’d expect a bit more from Electrelane after the strength of their prior album.
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The band’s ability to sound unforced, unpretentious, unusual, and most importantly, real, is a breath of fresh air.
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The results might be a little thin on actual "essential" moments, but they're working in the right direction.
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Under The RadarFans of The Power Out are thrown enough of a bone with Axes to stick with Electrelane for another album, but let's hope that the former is not ultimately the anomaly. [#9]
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Sometimes their creativity leads them astray into territory that should best be kept in the art room, but otherwise Axes is a delicious listen.
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There are too many stumbles and missed opportunities to consider the album anything but disappointing.
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BlenderThe band sometimes flails ineffectually, but more often it stays streamlined and urgent. [Jun 2005, p.109]
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MojoCourageous eccentricity it is, then. [Jun 2005, p.106]
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Axes isn't the stylistic leap forward that many might have expected after The Power Out. But what the album may lack diversity, it makes up for with surprising intensity and precision.
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The New York TimesTake a riff, expand it into a chord or two, repeat and crescendo and speed up until the big drone is everywhere. It's a simple strategy, but it still works for Electrelane. [10 Jul 2005]
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MagnetAxes comes off as a spikier, more experimental Stereolab or a more adept Raincoats. [#68, p.91]
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Axes feels of a loose, extensive jam session that still explores the darker corners of chamber pop-punk, but with an arresting experimental edge.
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Two thirds of a great album.
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Axes... has three distinct sections. The first is quite inspired, the second is mostly interminable, and the third is just inventive enough to rescue the whole venture.
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While there's some fresh experimenting and choral loveliness, it sounds formulaic and tired by Electrelane's standards.
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UncutAmounts to a consolidation rather than a progression. [Jun 2005, p.97]
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Q MagazineThere's little here that lingers. [Jun 2005, p.111]
User score distribution:
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Positive: 9 out of 10
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Mixed: 1 out of 10
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Negative: 0 out of 10
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Josie-AnneHDec 13, 2005You won't be able to listen to anything else for months!
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thomascJul 29, 2005possibly their best album - exceptional post-punk
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RayDJun 2, 2005