Metascore
63

Generally favorable reviews - based on 22 Critic Reviews

Critic score distribution:
  1. Positive: 11 out of 22
  2. Negative: 0 out of 22
  1. What we are given this time round is a rather boring queue of unmemorable songs.
  2. For the moment they have tightened the experimental purse strings, offering a less rewarding batch of songs than they’re capable of creating.
  3. Mostly, though, The Dodos’ little quirks--the lack of bass, the blustery drumming, the lyrics that threaten to say something profound but never do--irritate rather than intrigue.
  4. Like a lot of albums produced by Phil Ek (by the Shins, for instance, and Fleet Foxes), you're impressed, but don't necessarily warm to it.
  5. Time to Die is far from a bad album, but unpredictability still suits the Dodos better than trying to fit into a more recognizable indie rock mold.
  6. Time to Die will be filler for most people, a stopgap, a passing interest, at best a stepping stone.
  7. Alternative Press
    60
    It seems silly to declare Time To Die too well put together, but it's not always the shapest knife that gets the most use. [Oct 2009, p.110]
  8. Q Magazine
    60
    If they tend toward the opaque, a soothing vibraphone or twinkling guitar arpeggio is never too far away. [Oct 2009, p.108]
  9. The band seems to have decided musical chops and precision production are more important than ideas, turning Time to Die into a startlingly streamlined affair that passes without leaving much of a mark.
  10. Mojo
    40
    The Afro-ising influence of Vampire Weekend on Precisely The Dodos' musical sector leaves them sounding emblematic only of early-Noughties blowsiness--as passe as their name suggests. [Oct 2009, p.108]
  11. Under The Radar
    60
    Long's amazing guitar work, evident since his solo album, also does it best to break through, but in the end, can't. [Fall 2009, p.62]
User Score
8.3

Universal acclaim- based on 14 Ratings

User score distribution:
  1. Positive: 10 out of 14
  2. Negative: 0 out of 14
  1. Shango
    Sep 15, 2009
    8
    Great 3rd album. definitely worthy of listening to it over and over.