Komba
by Buraka Som Sistema
Metascore
76

Generally favorable reviews - based on 13 Critic Reviews

Critic score distribution:
  1. Positive: 10 out of 13
  2. Mixed: 3 out of 13
  3. Negative: 0 out of 13
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  1. PopMatters
    Jan 5, 2012
    80
    At their best, mourning and dancing demand all our attention--a fact that Buraka Som Sistema realize, embrace and set to some hard-ass beats.
  2. Dusted Magazine
    Jan 4, 2012
    60
    With so much in the blender, it's a testament to BSS's production skills that tracks like this don't fly apart. But they do get muddled.
  3. Uncut
    Dec 12, 2011
    60
    Gleefully adulterated here with generous slugs of dubstep, dancehall, rock, R&B, baile funk and anything else that fits the fervent party mood. [Jan 2012, p.82]
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  5. AllMusic
    Dec 6, 2011
    70
    There aren't quite as many standout tracks this time around, but there are no real low points to speak of, and there's plenty to enjoy, especially from a beat programming standpoint -- or, even more especially, from the center of a crowded, sweat-soaked dancefloor.
  6. The New York Times
    Nov 28, 2011
    80
    Buraka Som Sistema and its guests (including the Portuguese singer Sara Tavares, the Colombian band Bomba Estéreo and the Nigerian-English rapper Afrikan Boy) top them with sly, deadpan, polyglot vocals that cockily assume you'll be dancing.
  7. CMJ
    Nov 16, 2011
    80
    The album's tight production will draw you in and leave you dancing damp from sweat until the early hours of the morning.
  8. Blurt Magazine
    Nov 15, 2011
    70
    Komba, the band's third album, ups the techno factor from 2008's Black Diamond, pushing Buraka's infectious kuduro-samba-house-rave hybrid into shinier, more modernistic directions.
  9. Okayplayer
    Nov 15, 2011
    84
    It's all about the beats here. And they don't disappoint, nor do they let up, for the duration of the album.
  10. Spin
    Nov 15, 2011
    80
    Buraka assemble Jamaican dancehall, Brazilian favela beats, South African ghetto-tech, and video-game ear candy like colorful Lego blocks on an earthy yet impeccably crafted working-class fiesta for dance-floor zombies and vampires of all nations.
  11. Delusions of Adequacy
    Nov 15, 2011
    80
    Through its eleven songs Komba is exactly what we all need from time to time: a hopeful rejoicing in life itself.
  12. Clash Music
    Nov 15, 2011
    50
    Meh. It's alright, but I'm like... I'm like a bit bored, actually.
  13. Tiny Mix Tapes
    Nov 15, 2011
    90
    On Komba, their beats are deeper, darker, and more powerful than before, pointing the way towards a new direction for the band and, consequently, their audience.
  14. New Musical Express (NME)
    Nov 15, 2011
    70
    Its mix of clanking rhythms, bleeps and whistles is certainly insistent, although it's the vocal tracks that stick.

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