• Record Label: Capitol
  • Release Date: Jun 10, 2003
User Score
8.7

Universal acclaim- based on 647 Ratings

User score distribution:
  1. Negative: 13 out of 647

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  1. KiheoT
    Oct 22, 2003
    4
    Dark, mediocre and downright whiny- Thom Yorke at his worst. I agree a few listens improves the album but it doesn't hang together like Kid A or Amnesiac. Painfull to listen to all the way through
  2. byDivineRight
    May 30, 2003
    5
    This album seems to have two faces. One is based on more tradition instraments such as the piano and guitar while the other based mostly on computer beats. The computer based stuff is terrible. You sit there listening for the big payload and then the song ends. Monotone is the one word i can think to sum it up best. That and rubbish. The traditional stuff however is outstanding. 2+2=5 is This album seems to have two faces. One is based on more tradition instraments such as the piano and guitar while the other based mostly on computer beats. The computer based stuff is terrible. You sit there listening for the big payload and then the song ends. Monotone is the one word i can think to sum it up best. That and rubbish. The traditional stuff however is outstanding. 2+2=5 is one of a kind, sail to moon, scatterbrain, and my faviorite go to sleep are out of this world. If they would just cut out the electronic garbage and stick to what there good at they would have in me a new number 1 fan. But since have the songs are this new age electronic garbage half of a perfect mark is all i can give them. Expand
  3. I'mSadBrandon
    Aug 7, 2003
    6
    I love's them radiohead...but I'm very dissapointed with this ablum. It's starting to sound like, I don't know, maybe they're trying to put something out that might get some radioplay again. They're running out of (good) ideas and are starting to do a little bit of the sell out business.
  4. RonG
    May 16, 2006
    5
    A few electronic offerings, a few rock songs, a few slow ballads....the trouble is that although there is something for everyone, the album isn't really anything cohesive at all
  5. AidanK.
    Feb 29, 2008
    5
    I feel this is the weekest radiohead record. Its frustrating that the first two tracks are the best ones and it has too many songs.
  6. Entasmiquity
    Jun 15, 2003
    4
    If Radiohead recorded feedback from their oldest amp, burned it to disc, and called it Kid B, the critics would hail the new work's sublime textures and daring use of dissonance. Kid A was an amusing diversion from the norm, but Amnesiac sounded rote, and Hail is no different. I would offer a track-by-track review, but little distinguishes the songs from one another or from the If Radiohead recorded feedback from their oldest amp, burned it to disc, and called it Kid B, the critics would hail the new work's sublime textures and daring use of dissonance. Kid A was an amusing diversion from the norm, but Amnesiac sounded rote, and Hail is no different. I would offer a track-by-track review, but little distinguishes the songs from one another or from the tracks on the past two albums. Expand
  7. LeoS
    Jan 29, 2004
    5
    C'mon man! ANYBODY can evidently notice that there's SOMETHING (A LOT OF IT) missing. Turn the lights off and get ready to get depressed.
  8. Aug 5, 2011
    4
    I discovered radiohead with the famous piano-driven "Karma Police". I then read a lot of great reviews for them so I decided to start from the begining. The first three albums are great, especially OK computer. However, I was very surprised with Kid A. I hated it. So I decided to go for "Hail to the thief" as it was said to be a sort of return to their origins. Well, that is not true.I discovered radiohead with the famous piano-driven "Karma Police". I then read a lot of great reviews for them so I decided to start from the begining. The first three albums are great, especially OK computer. However, I was very surprised with Kid A. I hated it. So I decided to go for "Hail to the thief" as it was said to be a sort of return to their origins. Well, that is not true. Still electronic, the only good songs are the first three and the last two, maybe the third one being the only great one. It's sad to see how this band has gone down so much whilst the press still praise them and laugh at muse's debut album saying it is radiohead (now they have changed them after seeing their fame) when it only draws some inspiration from the opening tracks of the marvelous OK computer. As radiohead have stopped doing that music it is fair for muse or coldplay to expand from that style. Expand
  9. Nov 15, 2011
    5
    Unfortunately, for the longest, it's also the weakest Radiohead record. Also, the fact, after this album, that the band say they were not being political is almost laughable. This albums saving grace is track one, and then 5 of the last 6 songs, the middle just sounds hopelessly pointless. Good if you want an overview of the Radiohead 'sound,' pretty poor if you're already a fan.
  10. SheldonR
    Jun 9, 2003
    6
    I give it a six in radioheads catalog of cd's standards; Id give it a nine in modern music standards. This is a throwback cd for them. Its begs for commercial acceptance. Where is the personality of 'Kid A' or 'Ok Computer'? If they are going to fail I would at least like them to go down expressing something original. I really belive that this is the last even I give it a six in radioheads catalog of cd's standards; Id give it a nine in modern music standards. This is a throwback cd for them. Its begs for commercial acceptance. Where is the personality of 'Kid A' or 'Ok Computer'? If they are going to fail I would at least like them to go down expressing something original. I really belive that this is the last even half-assed rock album for Radiohead. And thats a good thing. Collapse
  11. BrianMcC
    Mar 5, 2006
    6
    Better than 'Pablo". Better than 'Kid A'. Great? No way. Worth getting? Maybe....only if you enjoy Radiohead's other efforts...especially Kid A. OK Computer has nothing to worry about...that recording remains their best and 'Hail' finishes way back in the race. Musically, it is nothing new.
  12. SebH
    Mar 27, 2009
    6
    I've been listening to this on and off for 5 years and yet I still see it as their worst since Pablo Honey. Amnesiac was much better because it at least had Pyramid Song and Knives Out (two of their best ever). You might say that it's still a great album compared with everything else that's being churned out these days, but I can't agree with that either. It's not I've been listening to this on and off for 5 years and yet I still see it as their worst since Pablo Honey. Amnesiac was much better because it at least had Pyramid Song and Knives Out (two of their best ever). You might say that it's still a great album compared with everything else that's being churned out these days, but I can't agree with that either. It's not rousing, falls into large lapses of self-parody and is far too long to get through. Sonically, it's not textured to the same beautiful level of OK Computer or The Bends and is even at times unlistenable and overly experimental. There are a few great songs I have to admit - There There, 2+2=5, Where I End And You Begin and, of course, Go To Sleep. But otherwise it's passable at best. In Rainbows, OK Computer, Kid A and The Bends all kick this one's ass. Expand
  13. May 14, 2022
    5
    the vocal is not good enough. The whole album is not better than mediocre. Unfortunately disappointing.
  14. Feb 27, 2023
    5
    Compared to all of the Radiohead albums I've listened to so far this one had no songs that wow'd me.
Metascore
85

Universal acclaim - based on 26 Critic Reviews

Critic score distribution:
  1. Positive: 22 out of 26
  2. Negative: 0 out of 26
  1. Q Magazine
    70
    As admirable as Radiohead's quest ongoing quest to ignore expectations, tear up the manual and proudly rebel against the limitations of 4/4 time seems, some of Hail To The Thief comes dangerously close to being all experimentalism and precious little substance. [Jul 2003, p.98]
  2. Of course it's political, and of course it continues to merge electronic experimentation with more familiar rock structures; but it employs all those debate-igniting props simply to further the band's more pressing agenda: to tirelessly explore beauty's terrible fragility.
  3. Hail to the Thief is overloaded with miraculous sounds.