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- Critic score
- Publication
- By date
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Kerrang!Aug 13, 2012Handwritten is The Gaslight Anthem's finest and most authoritative album. [28 Jul 2012, p.52]
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Jul 30, 2012It doesn't quite spike with the sharp edges of old, but the passion is in a more intelligent place, and it's a place worth returning to with at least the same frequency as those hospital walls.
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Jul 30, 2012The result is a weighty collection of tunes that toughens up the band's predilection of a softly rendered, Cure-indebted jangle and nudges the harder edges of Green Day's stadium punk.
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Jul 25, 2012The tunes are a jumble of fidelity betrayed and fidelity pledged, with tough-sounding, country-tinged, blues-infused gutter rock providing a spine.
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Jul 25, 2012As a whole Handwritten has all of the heart-on-rolled-up-sleeve passion that makes the Gaslight Anthem a band that is so easy to love and identify with.
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Jul 24, 2012Handwritten may not break any new ground for the band, but it's easily their strongest release yet.
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MagnetJul 24, 2012Loud and big--stadium big, major-label big--and although it has soft patches, much of it hurtles forward with welcomed urgency. [No.89, p.58]
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Jul 24, 2012Between the middle-of-the-metronome songs ("Keepsake"), mild bridges ("Handwritten") and ballads ("Mae" and "National Anthem"), the most riff-heavy, driving songs on Handwritten push the album from a good one to a great one.
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Jul 24, 2012The steady driving "Mulholland Drive" and the Roy Orbison-worthy "Here Comes My Man" are among the band's best and could have easily come off their breakthrough 2008 release The '59 Sound.
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Jul 24, 2012On Handwritten, his lyrics have finally settled into a perfect spot between craft and catharsis. And the music isn't far behind.
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Jul 23, 2012The lyrics are a little more personal, the band a little more developed - it seems that this is the start of a new and exciting chapter for The Gaslight Anthem.
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Jul 23, 2012Not only is Handwritten The Gaslight Anthem's best album, but it's also one of the best albums of 2012.
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Jul 19, 2012Handwritten is Gaslight's biggest-sounding, most straightforward album. The hints of Motown and dub are gone, but superproducer Brendan O'Brien supplies bite and gleam.
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Jul 18, 2012Their album is everything its title suggests: old-school, DIY, and so heartfelt, its emotions might as well be tattooed on its knuckles.
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Jul 17, 2012With one foot rooted in the past, the band is yet pushing forward, with an album that promises longevity and, maybe, greatness.
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Jul 10, 2012The criticisms are minor--a couple of tracks slide back into familiar Americana, but even then there's no sense of the band coasting.
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UncutJul 10, 2012For all the fine furies collected on Handwritten, the most memorable moments are those on which The Gaslight Anthem shift to lower gears. [Aug 2012, p.66]
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Alternative PressJul 10, 2012Thanks to the expert production of Brendan O'Brien, the record sounds goddamn phenomenal. [Aug 2012, p.83]
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Jul 9, 2012As listeners, as fans of music, we've already hit the lottery here.
Awards & Rankings
User score distribution:
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Positive: 34 out of 37
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Mixed: 2 out of 37
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Negative: 1 out of 37
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Nov 5, 2015
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Jan 5, 2014
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Sep 17, 2013