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Oblivion With Bells
by
Oblivion With Bells Image
Metascore
64

Generally favorable reviews - based on 24 Critic Reviews What's this?

User Score
7.2

Generally favorable reviews- based on 27 Ratings

  • Summary: After five years of working on other projects, including film scores, Underworld returns with their fifth album.

Top Track

Crocodile
Is that you? Is that Is that really you? To call between my lips Two kangaroo fingers push Through and scratch my back in rhythm Slow foot Slow... See the rest of the song lyrics
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Critic Reviews

Score distribution:
  1. Positive: 8 out of 24
  2. Mixed: 16 out of 24
  3. Negative: 0 out of 24
  1. Urb
    80
    Was it a signature-sound effort, or a further exploration of their film score work on "Breaking and Entering" or Danny Boyle’s 2007 sci-fi film "Sunshine?" These two worlds collide beautifully.
  2. Prefix Magazine
    75
    What is here, a mixture of jagged dance-punk numbers with pretty sound sketches (of the type Underworld has employed for recent soundtrack work), all succeeds.
  3. Under The Radar
    70
    The band has been making good, emotive electronic music since 1992, and Oblivion is no exception. [Fall 2007, p.84]
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  4. Pitchfork
    60
    Unfortunately, though, while they sound brighter and more alive than they have in a while, their default mode still leans a little too heavily on Hyde's increasingly silly beat poetry and the kind of unashamedly booming drums that haven't sounded exciting since, well, 1997.
  5. Drowned In Sound
    60
    After an auspicious introduction Oblivion With Bells has disappointingly descended into an irreconcilable docile abyss.
  6. Stylus Magazine
    58
    For all its tasteful craft, aesthetic unity and knowing winks to its makers’ history, it’s simply not very interesting
  7. NOW Magazine
    40
    You get what sounds like Karl Hyde doing freestyle slam poetry overtop of dull beats on 'Ring Road.' 'Crocodile' starts off promising but then gives up and becomes a backdrop for a one-syllable nightclub with white sofas.

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User Reviews

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Score distribution:
  1. Positive: 13 out of 16
  2. Mixed: 2 out of 16
  3. Negative: 1 out of 16
  1. SteveR.
    Oct 18, 2007
    9
    A strong effort. Underworld being Underworld. Great production and addictive grooves. What's not to like?
  2. MorganH.
    Jan 6, 2008
    9
    This is a new kind of Underworld, significantly better than the last new-kind-of-Underworld we saw on A Hundred Days Off. They smash together This is a new kind of Underworld, significantly better than the last new-kind-of-Underworld we saw on A Hundred Days Off. They smash together all of their sounds - combining the gritty dark beats of dubnobass with the bright, poppy synths of Beaucoup Fish and the weird, experimental work of their recent soundtracks and EPs. Is there a little Second Toughest in there as well? Holding The Moth (which attentive followers of UW will know as Globe) harks back to those days. Boy Boy Boy might be my favourite track, although it's hard to pick one; it's a kind of synthesis of previous sounds with something new, and it comes out rocking and thumping and everything you wanted. You were let down, perhaps, by A Hundred Days Off, and the four year gap that followed it. If, like me, you were thrilled to hear Crocodile for the first time, to hear that return to their original thumping beats and glorious harmonies, you're going to love this album.… Expand
  4. JayB.
    Oct 19, 2007
    9
    Except for a couple missteps, this album is pure Underworld and is one of the best albums of the year. You will not be disappointed!
  5. ZimaF.
    Nov 1, 2007
    9
    much better then the last album. on the way to the greatness of classics.
  6. RadeD.
    Nov 7, 2007
    9
    Probably the most underrated albums this year. Not masterpiece, but definitely not a disappointment.
  7. BitBurn
    Oct 17, 2007
    7
    As excited as I was getting my hands on this new album I must say though I was a little bit disappointed when I first heard the whole thing. It
  8. JamesJ.
    Dec 3, 2007
    3
    It's sad but underworld has fallen off. I almost wish I didn't even give it a listen but it still can't diminish their past It's sad but underworld has fallen off. I almost wish I didn't even give it a listen but it still can't diminish their past brilliant works.… Expand

See all 16 User Reviews

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