Buy Now
- Critic score
- Publication
- By date
-
Q MagazineFeb 1, 2011The Decemberists have never sounded more ordinary. [Feb. 2011, p. 114]
-
Jan 27, 2011It's a solid album with strong production and songwriting, but it won't blow any minds.
-
Jan 25, 2011At least once they had a snappy poetic sensibility and an admirable interest in history. Unfortunately, now they are pure turgid Americana pastiche.
-
Jan 20, 2011The way they put together their country-rock is rarely less than tasteful with some nice moments, like the sinuous guitar riff of 'Calamity Song'. Only on 'January Hymn', though, where they capture the stillness and melancholy of winter beautifully, do you forget to check the joinery.
-
Jan 18, 2011The King Is Dead clings so closely to formula that it doesn't sound like homage or even truth; it sounds like the studious but unconvincing work of an extremely gifted mimic.
-
Jan 7, 2011The end result is a tepid, lifeless album devoid of everything that we've come to expect from them in this part of their career, leaving only the most traditional aspects of their sound intact.
Awards & Rankings
User score distribution:
-
Positive: 66 out of 74
-
Mixed: 4 out of 74
-
Negative: 4 out of 74
-
Jan 19, 2011
-
Jan 24, 2011
-
Jan 22, 2011