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Aug 25, 2017Beast Epic perfectly distills a career into a nearly perfect collection.
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Aug 25, 2017A confident album from an artist who isn’t afraid to merge the past and present, Sam Beam continues to audibly demonstrate why he’s one of the most gifted songwriters of his time.
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Aug 31, 2017Don’t look for fireworks here, but rather smaller, quieter revelations that take time to unveil themselves.
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Aug 23, 2017It may not be a step forward, but it is a strong step in a very pleasing direction, especially for fans of a more unfiltered Iron & Wine.
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Aug 21, 2017This record is snug, unthreatening and comforting, which means anyone looking for rage and catharsis ought to give it a wide berth. But for many of those preoccupied by the kind of concerns that trouble Sam Beam--chiefly thoughts of mortality and fallibility--Beast Epic will be a long, warm, healing embrace.
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UncutAug 18, 2017Beast Epic is laidback and monochromatic but enlivened by its discourse. [Oct 2017, p.32]
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Aug 17, 2017Here is a warm, kind album that may sag a little on the second side but has songs up there with Beam’s best. Think Teenage Fanclub’s recent Here for a similar bittersweet reunion. Mellow doubt indeed.
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Aug 17, 2017These songs may be modest--none break the four-minute mark--and undemanding, but their sure-footed craft creates profound, 12-tog comfort.
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MagnetAug 15, 2017Although Beast Epic does not broadcast its complexity and depth as with some past Iron & Wine efforts, it's still lovely, dark and deep. [No. 145, p.58]
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MojoAug 8, 2017It might not look like it's going to leap out and grab you, but Beam here launches a soft emotional ambush. [Sep 2017, p.87]
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Q MagazineAug 8, 2017Beast Epic arks a surprising loop back to the more insular feel of his earlier material. [Sep 2017, p.110]
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Aug 8, 2017Beast Epic may well sound too tame and house-trained to sustain interest. Keep at it, however, and the album is soon likely to cast a subtle spell.
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Aug 24, 2017It is the sound of Iron & Wine returning home, ending one chapter and beginning another.
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Sep 6, 2017Beast Epic is a worthy addition to the Iron And Wine catalogue and an example of an album that improves the more and deeper you listen to it.
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Aug 28, 2017Across the course of its 11 tracks, Beast Epic leaves a sense of comfort and knowing. By that token, it will not be considered a classic record and many of the tracks blend into a warm, slightly blurred haze. However, it also marks a return to form for Iron & Wine, and certainly his best album since 2007’s The Shepherd’s Dog, and potentially his finest vocal performance to date.
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Aug 28, 2017On Beast Epic, Iron & Wine has rediscovered the power and beauty in scaling back when it serves the song, and the result is Beam's most dynamic and convincing record in years.
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Aug 25, 2017Beast Epic is a good album. In some senses, it’s satisfying. It just doesn’t get to the concreteness, to the creation that makes it something more.
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Aug 24, 2017Everything about Beast Epic feels true to Iron & Wine. Beam neither abandons his greater ambitions nor overindulges. He’s making a return trip to his roots, offering a gentle reminder of his early records’ simple beauty while allowing himself the freedom to build.
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Aug 22, 2017While Beast Epic doesn’t quite match the strength of those records, it still remains his most pleasing work since 2007’s ‘The Shepherd’s Dog’.
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Aug 11, 2017This is tender and meditative music that contemplates the complex tapestry of existence.
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Aug 8, 2017A robust production that's decidedly stripped, at its best moments approaching the finest parts of The Shepherd's Dog. [Jul - Sep 2017, p.57]
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Aug 30, 2017The album marks the return of that sharpness of perspective in Beam’s songwriting. However, there are moments where the music--though the band plays together well--threatens to tip from spare into stale. It never quite gets there.
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Aug 23, 2017It's noble to see Iron & Wine trying to take his songs into a different direction, but it's a shame that he lacks the confidence to allow these great songs to show off their personality without the help of inane studio glossiness.
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Aug 15, 2017The sneaky-sounding arpeggios and the hushed, fragile vocal performances that defined albums like Our Endless Numbered Days are eschewed in favor of bright strumming and unbridled joyousness, rendering most of Beast Epic undeniably pretty but ultimately toothless. That's not to say Beast Epic doesn't sometimes explore hefty themes.
User score distribution:
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Positive: 20 out of 24
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Mixed: 3 out of 24
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Negative: 1 out of 24
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Aug 31, 2017
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Aug 31, 2017
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Sep 12, 2017