Metascore
80

Generally favorable reviews - based on 25 Critic Reviews

Critic score distribution:
  1. Positive: 23 out of 25
  2. Negative: 0 out of 25
  1. Spin
    100
    The Von Bondies' calling card is the urgency of [Jason] Stollsteimer's voice as it sands down the shop-worn chord progressions. [Mar 2004, p.92]
  2. Pawn Shoppe Heart is all sensational glam riffs and massive shout-along choruses.
  3. Hands down, ‘Pawn Shoppe Heart’ is the record to blow their contemporaries out of the water.
  4. Pawn Shoppe Heart is the most electrifying album to have trawled its way out of the Detroit gutter in ages, effortlessly showing up [The White Stripes'] White Blood Cells in the process.
  5. Filter
    82
    An unflinching major label debut, as well as a straight rock album that straddles confidently that tricky space between rawness and posturing. [#10, p.95]
  6. 80
    This is a rock ‘n’ roll album in the same way that ‘Fun House’ was a rock ‘n’ roll album.
  7. Pawn Shoppe Heart is a pretty kick-ass rock n’roll record.
  8. It has the electric hot valve excitement of sixties garage rock, the stomping sexuality of glam and the amphetamined rush of punk rock all dusted down and mashed together in its fever pitch workouts.
  9. They serve up a lethal dose of sandbagging powerchords, drums that sound like collapsing skyscrapers, and buckets of punk attitude.
  10. Q Magazine
    80
    Pawn Shoppe Heart is a party album, albeit soundtracking the sort of party where too much alcohol causes lifelong friends to come to blows. [Feb 2004, p.96]
  11. Although it threatens to flicker out in spots, Pawn Shoppe Heart mostly blazes with an intensity that avoids sounding contrived or dated.
  12. Pawn Shoppe Heart is an album that warrants beginning-to-end play.
  13. Uncut
    80
    Where on 2001's Lack of Communication their cranked-up Stoogeisms were adorably desperate, here they're glibly glamorous, energised by a Pixies-like concision. [Mar 2004, p.87]
  14. Blender
    80
    Though not as ambitious or original as the [White] Stripes at their best, the VB's indelible punk-rock blues parks a new car in the Motor City garage. [Apr 2004, p.136]
  15. With huge, ballooning vocals and a shit-kicking rhythm section, the record consistently threatens to pop its own feeble seams; by carefully shuffling away from their past outings, The Von Bondies have produced a booming sonic statement that's far more glam than garage, and a lot less "Detroit" than we've been trained to expect.
  16. Swathed from head to toe in ecstatic fuzz.
  17. Alternative Press
    70
    At times monotonous, Heart's strongest tracks are those augmented with vocals by female guitarist Marcie Bolen and basist Carrie Smith. [Apr 2004, p.96]
  18. The four Von Bondies remain terrific players, and Stollsteimer's sustained indignation is always good for a laugh. But at times, the calculated nature of it all is distracting, and you long for the harebrained rawness which made "Lack Of Communication" the best record (besides those by The White Stripes) that the Detroit revival has produced.
  19. Mojo
    70
    They have an inherent gift for the split-second pause, the cool coda, the scene-stealing lyric. [Feb 2004, p.98]
  20. Pawn Shoppe Heart is the type of thrillingly raucous, visceral, harsh, storming brand of balls-all-the-way-out rock familiar to anyone paying vaguely close mind to current Detroit rumblings.
  21. If you're a fan of the rock and the roll and the denim and the Rolling Rock, then snatch this record up tout de suite.
  22. Entertainment Weekly
    67
    Too often the group sounds like a sped-up version of the Cult. [12 Mar 2004, p.111]
  23. Offers all the kicks of a souped-up kit car roaring down the open road.
  24. The A.V. Club
    60
    Occasionally catchy and exciting. [17 Mar 2004]

Awards & Rankings

User Score
8.0

Generally favorable reviews- based on 11 Ratings

User score distribution:
  1. Positive: 9 out of 11
  2. Negative: 1 out of 11
  1. leighw
    Sep 6, 2004
    9
    kicks the ass out of rock n roll blues.
  2. franzferdinand
    May 1, 2004
    9
    great great great ! i love both the white stripes and the von bondies. i don't think they're music is similar. i just think that great great great ! i love both the white stripes and the von bondies. i don't think they're music is similar. i just think that the both two bands rock like noone else in the world. that's what i like. highlights: broken man, c'mon c'mon, the fever, posion ivy, try little tenderness (hidden track). anyways the album is incredible... Full Review »
  3. missgolightly
    Apr 17, 2004
    9
    I don't know how Stollsteimer pulled this one out the bag, but it must have been a tight squeeze because this album is huge. As I don't know how Stollsteimer pulled this one out the bag, but it must have been a tight squeeze because this album is huge. As rifftastic, if not more so than Lack Of Communication, the production (sorry Mr. White)far exceeds the debut, and shows they can outshine any other detroit darlings. If you haven't seen this band live by now you've missed out. Full Review »