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Isolation Drills Image
Metascore
83

Universal acclaim - based on 15 Critic Reviews What's this?

User Score
8.5

Universal acclaim- based on 10 Ratings

  • Summary: The latest release from GBV is a continuation of the band's new, more polished sound introduced on 1999's 'Do The Collapse.'

Top Track

Glad Girls
Hey, glad girls only want to get you high And they're alright There will be no coronation There will be no flowers flowing In the light that passes... See the rest of the song lyrics
Score distribution:
  1. Positive: 14 out of 15
  2. Negative: 0 out of 15
  1. From sparse DIY fragments to string-enhanced ballads and well-wrought pop, the material on Isolation Drills is as diverse as it is consistently compelling.
  2. Magnet
    90
    One of the band's best.... While 1999's Ric Ocasek-produced Do The Collapse was criticized by some for its thick, pop-radio gloss, Isolation Drills shows more restraint, reconciling Pollard's idiosyncrasies with the track-to-track consistency great rock albums demand. [#49, p.75]
  3. The group has created an album filled not only with the timeless pop hooks you have come to expect but with the anthemic swagger that is the hallmark of many of the great rock recordings of the last 30 years.
  4. Yes, it's fun rockin' pop. But, unlike a lot of today's pop music, Guided By Voices keep their depth.
  5. Isolation Drills sounds like the real rock album GBV have always wanted to make...
  6. Ditching lo-fi aesthetics for a more radio-ready sound in the spirit of, say, the Raspberries or Badfinger, Pollard has wisely chosen not bury his songs in oblique lyrical references and muddy tape hiss.
  7. Blender
    60
    His Who-tastic riffs remain belligerent and plentiful, but Pollard sounds grimmer, as if the former grade-school teacher suddenly realizes that touring in a van past age 40 isn't as much fun as he expected. [Jun/Jul 2001, p.111]

See all 15 Critic Reviews

Score distribution:
  1. Positive: 4 out of 5
  2. Negative: 0 out of 5
  1. DavidJ.
    Nov 29, 2001
    10
    GBV rock. That's all I have to say.
  2. Jan 21, 2021
    10
    Not only Guided by Voices greatest album, it's one of the best albums ever. Period.
  3. DJB
    Jan 18, 2005
    8
    Critics and fans agree THIS ALBUM ROCKS!!! Naysayers BEWARE: This album/group by comparison is more fresh and alive then practically Critics and fans agree THIS ALBUM ROCKS!!! Naysayers BEWARE: This album/group by comparison is more fresh and alive then practically everything else out there. Long Live GBV!!! R.I.P. Collapse
  4. May 25, 2011
    7
    Isolation Drills was kinda one of those albums we forget about later on, but remembering it again sure is good. some of the songs were boring,Isolation Drills was kinda one of those albums we forget about later on, but remembering it again sure is good. some of the songs were boring, but most of them bring back what we love about GBV. Expand
  5. Apr 6, 2018
    6
    Isolation Drills is a greatly overrated album, however it does contain a few decent tracks such as: chasing heather crazy, glad girls,Isolation Drills is a greatly overrated album, however it does contain a few decent tracks such as: chasing heather crazy, glad girls, frostman with most of the other tracks on this album being mediocre and filler. Certainly not one of their best albums and sits quite comfortably alongside the previously loathed album Do The Collapse. Nevertheless, a starting point for new fans of the band that are more inclined to mainstream hi-fi music. Expand