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Embryonic - The Flaming Lips
User Score
8.8 out of 10

Universal acclaim- based on 74 Ratings

User score distribution:
  1. Positive: 70 out of 74
  2. Mixed: 1 out of 74
  3. Negative: 3 out of 74

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  1. Flubs
    Oct 13, 2009
    9
    Solid effort... Powerless is a top track.
    • 0 of 0 users said yes
  2. MarkB.
    Oct 14, 2009
    10
    Amazing return to form.
    • 0 of 0 users said yes
  3. PhilP
    Oct 14, 2009
    10
    Brilliant, compelling, wild, experimental, heavy. I gave this album my full attention, in a dark room, like a movie, and it blew me away. It's an organic, shimmering, kaleidoscopic gem of a creation.
    • 0 of 0 users said yes
  4. Mikeh
    Oct 15, 2009
    10
    Hands down the album of the year unless someone delives a miracle by NYE. The vitality and energy here is shocking. This is a truly great rock band, and this is a truly great experimental record that takes tremendous risks.
    • 0 of 0 users said yes
  5. BrettW
    Oct 13, 2009
    9
    Mesmerizing - a return to the weird rockiness for the Lips. Wayne Coyne is back to writing great philosophical meanderings after taking a brief break with At War with the Mystics (which was a misfire for the band and Wayne).
    • 0 of 0 users said yes
  6. LeahT
    Oct 13, 2009
    9
    The Lips are timeless...and this album is no exception. But what is even more refreshing than their dependable nature is the fact that they've continued to evolve as a band. They haven't stagnated. A wonderful listen.
    • 0 of 0 users said yes
  7. PL
    Oct 13, 2009
    9
    Finally some NOISE!
    • 0 of 0 users said yes
  8. CodyD
    Oct 14, 2009
    10
    This is the best Lips album since The Soft Bulletin.
    • 0 of 0 users said yes
  9. dKismet
    Oct 14, 2009
    10
    Awesomeness! Maybe the best album I've heard all year and I've heard more than my share! Mind-boggling and very experimental. I couldn't believe that this band has been around for some 20 odd years!!!
    • 0 of 0 users said yes
  10. AlB
    Oct 14, 2009
    9
    Superb - back to their psych roots and loving it! One of the best albums of the year and their career.
    • 0 of 0 users said yes
  11. JoeyBlow
    Oct 15, 2009
    9
    Weirdly fantastic. Early Floyd meets John Cage.
    • 0 of 0 users said yes
  12. JimmyD
    Oct 15, 2009
    9
    Awesome drums, bass, and electronics here. After a lackluster output in "Mystics," The Flaming Lips are back and better than ever.
    • 0 of 0 users said yes
  13. MartinA
    Oct 15, 2009
    10
    The Flaming Lips have once again proven that they are one of the most lasting bands in the music scene today with their newest masterpiece, Embryonic.
    • 0 of 0 users said yes
  14. panopticon
    Oct 19, 2009
    10
    This gives Grizzly Bear a real competitor for Album of 2009.
    • 0 of 0 users said yes
  15. joeb
    Oct 13, 2009
    9
    The NME actually gave the album a 9/10, the 0/10 is a typo. Do you even read the content of these reviews? They even called it a masterpiece, I would've thought that'd be a pretty big clue that something was up. Good going, Metacritic!
    • 0 of 0 users said yes
  16. MAxM
    Oct 13, 2009
    10
    Incredible album, start to finish, and the group's best since The Soft Bulletin. Innovative and completely unorthodox but I think it's probably their most accessible yet.
    • 0 of 0 users said yes
  17. raelt
    Oct 13, 2009
    10
    Since when the observer, guardian and rolling stones understand REAL music? this should be album of the year, period. Metacritic better weight better the real critics with the lousy, mainstream ones.
    • 0 of 0 users said yes
  18. DexxterB
    Oct 14, 2009
    9
    The album is a bit weird at times but The Flaming Lips have proven their superior musical talent 10 years after the flawless Soft Bulletin.
    • 0 of 0 users said yes
  19. EricS
    Oct 14, 2009
    10
    One of the year's best and a return to form for the Lips. Excellent album.
    • 0 of 0 users said yes
  20. JonF
    Oct 16, 2009
    10
    Nothing they've done before compares to this, and yet, somehow it's all led up to this blast of sonic energy, a spastic mess of guitar, animal sounds, digressions on madness and a final throwing up of the hands (yes, it's over, we can say no more). This is exactly the type of miscalculated, messy, audacious album I'd hoped they'd make. They're already good, but this is something quite else.… Expand
    • 0 of 0 users said yes
  21. GT
    Oct 17, 2009
    6
    All of the songs are just jams. That's really cool and all, but none of the songs have a real backbone. Just some drum beat with a bass line and weird noises with Wayne "singing".
    • 0 of 0 users said yes
  22. Vampire25
    Dec 16, 2010
    9
    Embryonic is a different sounding type of Flaming Lips album. All of it sounds perfect though. They experiment with a lot of different noises in this album and they slow down their songs in a few. It sorta sounds like they went back to Yoshimi roots. And all of it sounds great. "Aquarius Sabotage", "Evil", "Powerless" and "See The Leaves" are all great tracks. All In All, The Flaming Lips still haven't made an album that surpasses Yoshimi Battles The Pink Robots, but Embryonic comes the closest to it. A-… Expand
  23. JamesStringer
    Jun 2, 2011
    10
    In a word, It's brilliant. In several, It's simply in a world of it's own, easily on a par with Soft Bulletin or Yoshimi Battles The Pink Robots. I love it.
  24. TatrTotz
    Sep 3, 2011
    10
    The Flaming Lips are my favorite band. I did not like this album at first, though. I said it was disappointing. I changed my mind later. Its different from every other Flaming Lips album. After Yoshimi The Flaming Lips seemed to have been going in a different direction with their music, starting with At War With The Mystics and continuing with Embryonic. Embryonic is very experimental, and very electronic. Songs like See The Leaves, Evil, and Powerless are some of my favorites. Also, its a much longer album than previous Flaming Lips albums. It is, however, nonetheless a very good album.… Expand
  25. Silmarillion_44
    Dec 6, 2011
    10
    Absolutely flawless. This album is a fu*king machine! Embryonic has a soul, extreme creativity and of course, a moody, yet familiar and heavenly Flaming Lips ambient. Oh well, we ARE talking about THE Lips, so, what else were we expecting... Another brutal win :P
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Critic Reviews

All reviews »
Metascore
81 out of 100

Universal acclaim - based on 33 Critics

Critic score distribution:
  1. Positive: 28 out of 33
  2. Mixed: 5 out of 33
  3. Negative: 0 out of 33
  1. MSN Consumer Guide (Robert Christgau)
    91
    Although I gather there's a concept here, knowing what it is might ruin the gently wigged-out dystopianism the lyrics cozy up to. More important, it might undercut the otherwise irreducible pleasures of their exploding guitars, unworldly synths, and crazy drums.
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  2. All Music Guide
    80
    Little about Embryonic is clear-cut or straightforward -- these noisy, pensive, sometimes meandering songs take awhile to decipher and often feel like they're still in the process of becoming. These very qualities, however, make these songs some of the Flaming Lips most haunting and intriguing music in some time.
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  3. Boston Globe
    80
    Embryonic is not as strange as "Zaireeka,'' the Lips' play-four-CDs-at-the-same-time experiment, but it's up there. On the other hand, Embryonic is completely absorbing. It grows on you in a way that the earlier records simply cannot do.
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