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Mar 15, 2019Brexit (let us look forward to the day when we no longer have to speak of this blight) may be this album's context and its backdrop but what we might be getting here is ultimately a form of contemporary elegiac lyricism rather than full-fledged social polemic. Perhaps that is a more useful and rewarding reference and access point for this remarkable piece of work.
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The WireMar 7, 2019Eton Alive is but another visceral and impetuous take on a grim political reality. [Mar 2019, p.58]
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Mar 6, 2019The lyrics continue to take a few listens to fully digest (beyond the regular laugh-out-loud moments), as do Fearn’s often misleadingly direct grooves. His basslines sound particularly mighty here, and Williamson’s vitriol (which fills most of the record) continues to be very much needed in contemporary Britain.
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Feb 27, 2019Sleaford Mods' eleventh album is a remarkable leap on from 2017's English Tapas, a record of consolidation that addressed the strange situation that the duo found themselves in--going from a niche concern more accustomed to playing alongside noise artists suddenly given column inches and selling out massive venues. This progress has come hand in hand with a keener knack for more fully developed tunes to bolster Williamson's hectoring. It is also, frequently, a hilarious record.
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Feb 25, 2019Andrew Fearn’s soundscapes, meanwhile, improve with each album. Particularly potent is the ominous post-punk bassline he deploys on OBCT; even what sounds suspiciously like a kazoo solo towards the end can’t puncture its sense of menace.
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Feb 22, 2019Though it's more than a little contrary that their first album on their own label is more melodic and emotionally immediate than their work for Rough Trade, it's one of many moves on Eton Alive that are pure Sleaford Mods.
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Feb 22, 2019Eton Alive captures the self-proclaimed “Best Band in the World” as wide-awake as ever, dolloping fun all over their music like it’s Daddies Brown Sauce.
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Feb 22, 2019As ever, Sleaford Mods are a voice that must be heard.
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Feb 21, 2019This is a record that expands the idea of what Sleaford Mods could be.
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Feb 21, 2019Taking chances while renewing and enhancing their inimitable sound, Eton Alive is a belch in the face of the architects of austerity, a cry of sheer life amid an increasingly deadening environment.
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Feb 19, 2019Razorwire-sharp and reflexive, Eton Alive sees Sleaford Mods knowingly take the existential dare once more, and mostly win.
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UncutFeb 19, 2019Cathartic in its honesty but no less depressing for that. [Mar 2019, p.33]
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Feb 19, 2019Instrumentally, this record doesn't do anything revelatory that distinguishes it from their other releases. However, in maintaining their usual glitchy post-punk instrumentals with this clearer lyrical concept, the duo emphasize the emptiness of the automated economy.
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MojoFeb 19, 2019It's a unique kind of unhappy listening, too toxic on the universal scale to be bled out. But it leaves you galvanised, purged and recharged for the unending war against mediocrity. [Mar 2019, p.90]
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Feb 19, 2019Sometimes a joke starts wearing thin, but goes on so long that it comes back around. And Eton Alive is a pretty great punchline. Not everything has to be escapist or explicitly political--sometimes you just want to hear people make gags about a world that you recognise. It’s cathartic, it’s entertaining. It says: you exist. Eton Alive makes Sleaford Mods funny again.
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Mar 20, 2019Certainly this is a vast step forward for Sleaford Mods, musically, tonally, and in terms of performance and the perfection of the biting couplet, but they appear to remain steadfast in their long-held belief that, as Williamson states on "Subtraction," "the only change I like is in my pocket."
Awards & Rankings
User score distribution:
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Positive: 18 out of 24
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Mixed: 3 out of 24
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Negative: 3 out of 24
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Mar 30, 2019An album that grows on you with each listening. it's a sheer punk at heart in spite of its rap appearance.
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Mar 2, 2019
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Oct 25, 2020