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100No great leaps of faith, no huge style shifts, just more of what we've come to love them for. But a bit more laid back and, erm, druggy? If that's at all possible.
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A clear progression from 1997's broody 'Vanishing Point' and 2000's abrasive 'Xtrmntr', the seventh Primals album is genuinely their most diverse and consistently thrilling since 'Screamdelica'.
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80In many ways, 'Evil Heat' comes across as something of an amalgam of the Scream's many phases and, because of that, it doesn't necessarily take them forward as their work in the past has done.
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80Less conceptually pure than its predecessor in terms of tone and motivation it may be, but Evil Heat's bespoke tailoring pays dividends time and time again. [Aug 2002, p.94]
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Where Kraftwerk, MC5, and Miles Davis used to tempt them to excess, here the production unites their diverse influences, every track attacking the speakers like an angry lunatic thrashing against the walls of a poorly soundproofed room.
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80Dark, electroshocked eighth album from Brit rock's premier party people. [Jan 2003, p.99]
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Their catchiest, most compelling record yet.
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Not quite the apocalyptic inverse Screamadelica that XTRMNTR was, it’s still a damn site more radical, experimental and dangerous than anything produced by any other mainstream rock band this year.
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70Evil Heat doesn't exactly break new ground and often amounts to, strictly speaking, little more than pastiche. [Aug 2002, p.104]
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70Ultimately, Evil Heat is more evocative than innovative, but why rewrite the book when it's already a compelling read. [Dec 2002, p.80]
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70Gillespie's lyrics will never win any Nobels, but the musical excitement generated here is impossible to deny.
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65A letdown from the full-on intensity and imagination of their previous release.
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Sadly, the electro-plated Evil Heat is neither evil nor particularly molten. [Jan 2003, p.99]
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60The biggest detractor here is the band's lack of focus. The record is downright messy at times, even if the thick, murky quality does, in some instances, work to considerable effect.
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60What could have been an awful mess is instead a glorious mess. [#12, p.151]
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60While it misses the suicidal rush of imminent destruction, Evil Heat still sounds dangerously rash. [Jan 2003, p.76]
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Thankfully, Kevin Shields puts together some great guitarscapes in Evil Heat -- maybe the best work he's done post Loveless. It's what saves this record, since Bobby Gillespie (as usual) tries to ruin some of these tracks with some pretty silly lyrics.
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60On the down side, it's a record that fails to keep pace. [Aug 2002, p.133]
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As always, Primal Scream's sonics remain as thick as their hooks are slim.
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60For all its attempts at hipster currency, Evil Heat reveals the needle-shaped creative hole where the drugs used to be. [#57, p.102]
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60Evil Heat lacks a coherent vision and sounds, if anything, like Xtrmntr's cast-offs.
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50Bobby Gillespie and company come up short here.
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Evil Heat... feels suspiciously like XTRMNTR outtakes, which isn't half as bad as it sounds; there's a sense of cohesion to the proceedings, and nothing, wisely, sounds remotely like the gossamer bliss-takes of Screamadelica.
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30"Miss Lucifer"... [is] the first of many tracks on Evil Heat that cross rock 'n' roll and electro, only to get Sigue Sigue Sputnik. [#223, p.61]
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User score distribution:
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Positive: 7 out of 7
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Mixed: 0 out of 7
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Negative: 0 out of 7
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KidA7Ooh baby, do it again, ooh baby, come on baby do it again Skull X, City, and Detroit are amazing Everything else is decent
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rexj6
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Bruno10Another masterpiece! 'XTRMNTR' was great but these records ('Vanishing Point' & 'Evil Heat') set real benchmarks!