Oblivion With Bells
by Underworld
Metascore
64

Generally favorable reviews - based on 24 Critic Reviews

Critic 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. Billboard
    80
    Oblivion simmers without boiling, and the tension is intoxicating.
  3. New Musical Express (NME)
    80
    Oblivion With Bells is less the comedown than the sound of the party still going 10 years on.
  5. 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.
  6. Amazon.com
    70
    The best tracks on Oblivion with Bells are also the most ambitious....But after that pair of opening tracks, you have to wait until the very last piece, a long, trancey bit of psychedelic drift called 'The Best Mamgu Ever,' to hear something more than unformed melodies and unstrung ideas.
  7. Alternative Press
    70
    Their eighth album, Oblivion With Bells, showcases a more refined approach. [Nov 2007, p.176]
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  8. 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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  9. Tiny Mix Tapes
    70
    While this release is ruminative in nature, the temperament isn’t far removed from the classic record with which this release shares a striking visual resemblance.
  10. AllMusic
    60
    Underworld never sound particularly tired on Oblivion with Bells. Granted, the music is less innovative than before, and also more quiet, which makes Hyde's vocals more critical than they've ever been.
  11. Blender
    60
    Too bad, then, the album drifts off into the ambient sighs and murmurs of their recent movie-soundtrack work, minus the diverting visuals.
  12. Slant Magazine
    60
    It clearly meshes with their previous incarnations and eventually emerges as a listenable album in its own right.
  13. Mojo
    60
    The appealingly titled Oblivion With Bells continues Karl Hyde and Rick Smith's desire to capture the Freon-and-neon static of modern life. [Nov 2007, p.92]
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  14. Drowned In Sound
    60
    After an auspicious introduction Oblivion With Bells has disappointingly descended into an irreconcilable docile abyss.
  15. Q Magazine
    60
    Expansive opener, 'Crocidile' finds them locked into the pulsing techno groove that made 'Born Slippy' so maddeningly addictive. [Nov 2007, p.148]
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  16. Spin
    60
    Its follow-up is where they relax--literally. [Nov 2007, p.126]
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  17. 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.
  18. Dot Music
    60
    Oblivion With Bells is a competent record and, it must be said, far stronger than the most recent releases by '90s contemporaries The Prodigy or The Chemical Brothers.
  19. Uncut
    60
    This is a finely polished album, but low on guts, grit or urgency. [Nov 2007, p.129]
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  20. Stylus Magazine
    58
    For all its tasteful craft, aesthetic unity and knowing winks to its makers’ history, it’s simply not very interesting
  21. The A.V. Club
    58
    Expansive, unfurling bangers like 'Beautiful Burnout' help keep Underworld above the line that separates has-beens from are-stills.
  22. Almost Cool
    58
    If you're a hardcore fan of Underworld, you'll find some things to love here (as I did), but others will probably want to reach for something more consistent.
  23. musicOMH.com
    50
    Some thrills and spills, then--like West Ham--and the first fifteen minutes are as good as you could hope for from a band coming back to life after an extended period on the sidelines.
  24. PopMatters
    50
    The worst aspect of Oblivion With Bells is not that it is in any respects a bad album, merely a mediocre one, perfectly serviceable and peppered with as many small-scale pleasures as baffling misfires, but all the same instantly forgettable and damnably inessential.
  25. 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.

User Reviews

All reviews »
User Score
7.2

Generally favorable reviews- based on 27 Ratings

User score distribution:
  1. Positive: 20 out of 27
  2. Mixed: 4 out of 27
  3. Negative: 3 out of 27
  1. 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.… Full Review »
  2. 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.… Full Review »
  3. Rub
    Nov 29, 2007
    9
    I think this album is quite good. pleasantly surprised.
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