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Double Negative Image
Metascore
86

Universal acclaim - based on 21 Critic Reviews What's this?

User Score
8.0

Generally favorable reviews- based on 63 Ratings

  • Summary: The 12th full-length release for the indie rock trio was produced by B.J. Burton.
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Score distribution:
  1. Positive: 20 out of 21
  2. Negative: 0 out of 21
  1. Sep 14, 2018
    100
    Double Negative is an album that will endure for a long time. It’s a thrilling development that proves how Low continue to release music of extremely high standards, restlessly creative and never content to stand still.
  2. Aug 29, 2018
    100
    Not since Bon Iver’s aforementioned reinvention or even Radiohead’s Kid A have a relatively mainstream band made such an assured volte-face, wilfully pushing their audience away while they revisit, remake and remodel the tension that made them so very precious in the first place. Fierce and beautiful. Low are back.
  3. 90
    An album rich in darkness and in texture, finding Low in experimental sublimity, further reminding us that their range has only gotten exceptionally larger and better over time.
  4. Sep 14, 2018
    87
    The album is like a discovery of a new mutation of still-recognizable DNA. And finally this new strain of sound isn’t just bold for Low; it’s just plain bold.
  5. Sep 28, 2018
    80
    The songs not only feel like they exist in a vacuum, but that they demand the listener create one too. It’s an important and serious album because it forces you to experience it as one, it asserts itself as the only thing you can concentrate on.
  6. Sep 18, 2018
    80
    With Double Negative, Low maintain all fronts of their fanbase. All the elements of the bands chilling atmospheres are there.
  7. Mojo
    Aug 29, 2018
    60
    Some of the vocal processing, though pushed to the extreme, will be a little familiar to Bon Iver fans/sceptics. Persevere, though, and yet more classic Low songs emerge from the post-apocalyptic murk. [Oct 2018, p.87]

See all 21 Critic Reviews

Score distribution:
  1. Positive: 12 out of 15
  2. Negative: 2 out of 15
  1. Nov 18, 2018
    10
    To say this album perfectly captures the global zeitgeist is an understatement. It plays out like a grand battle of binaries musicallyTo say this album perfectly captures the global zeitgeist is an understatement. It plays out like a grand battle of binaries musically expressed; sounds of decay, distortion and despair constantly threatening to overwhelm the sounds of harmony, beauty and gentleness. But in the end there is no clear winner. It's almost as if the two opposing sides meld into each other, feeding off each other. In the end there is, as the title of the last track indicates, disarray; where the double negative in all its obscurant logic finally makes itself heard: "The truth is not something that you have not heard." "This evil spirit man it's bringing me down...They say you let it in when you took the drugs". Sometimes it's like the chaos of the land is a perfect allegory of the chaos within the human soul. And vice versa, "It's not the end, it's just the end of hope" sings Sparhawk on Dancing & Fire and you think you know exactly what he means. This present tumult is the inevitable consquence when the world is painted in absolutes of black & white, either/or. Them versus us. I versus myself. Profoundly political, deeply emotional; a musical masterpiece. Expand
  2. Sep 15, 2018
    10
    I've been a Low fan since the 90s and this may be my favorite album. The rough textures just seem to highlight the beautiful tension of theseI've been a Low fan since the 90s and this may be my favorite album. The rough textures just seem to highlight the beautiful tension of these songs. A hundred listens in and I still find the music more rewarding each time through. Expand
  3. Mar 29, 2020
    10
    The great experimental masterpiece they were kind of promising since their debut. Best record I’ve heard in 2019.
  4. Sep 17, 2018
    10
    Ugliness and beauty all the same. My favorite Low album ever. Wonderful surprise for a 12th album.
  5. Sep 19, 2018
    10
    A complete curveball from a band I've loved for a long time. Wrecked lullabies for a world careening out of control. A little bit of aA complete curveball from a band I've loved for a long time. Wrecked lullabies for a world careening out of control. A little bit of a difficult listen, especially at first, but there is still beauty even in Low's most hellish hymns. Expand
  6. Sep 15, 2018
    8
    Sometimes we appreciate music as a work of art and not what you want to be on the radio. This album isn't for everyone but it has a industrialSometimes we appreciate music as a work of art and not what you want to be on the radio. This album isn't for everyone but it has a industrial and minimalistic beauty to it. The vocals on Dancing and Blood are hauntingly beautiful. Some experimentation on certain tracks may feel weird to the listener, for example the vocal fading in and out in Quorum and the static white noise present throughout the track. This was the first time i've listened to anything by Low, looking forward to listen to their discography after this interesting album. Expand
  7. Sep 19, 2018
    3
    While the first half of this album is all but completely unlistenable, if you stick with it the songs on the back half range from horrendousWhile the first half of this album is all but completely unlistenable, if you stick with it the songs on the back half range from horrendous to merely awful. This is not art. This is often not even music. This is pure pretentiousness. Expand

See all 15 User Reviews

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