User Score
7.8

Generally favorable reviews- based on 18 Ratings

User score distribution:
  1. Positive: 12 out of 18
  2. Negative: 1 out of 18
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  1. Apr 20, 2012
    5
    Valhalla Dancehall sees BSP adding a ladle of shoegaze to their recipe. Unfortunately, the more formless moments on this LP are interchangeable and undistinguished. The more restrained, melody infused tunes shows that the band still know how to turn out a good riff, but they're mostly in short supply here. The weakest British Sea Power offering to date.
  2. Jan 16, 2011
    9
    "Valhalla Dancehall" should finally give them the recognition they really deserve. They are in the same league with Arcade Fire but unfortunately BSP remain one of the most underrated bands of the last 10 years!Everyone should go to their party and enjoy the magic "Valhalla Dancehall" brings.Loving them is so easy...
  3. Jan 19, 2011
    10
    In a nutshell, this album is their finest to date. Better than their Mercury-nominated 'Do You Like Rock Music'. Better than 'The Decline of British Sea Power.' Yes, it really is that good. If you have ever enjoyed a BSP gig, or a BSP song, you simply must own this album. It is their meisterwerk.
  4. Jan 21, 2011
    10
    "Valhalla Dancehall" gives a very strong sense of space, the background is full of carefully mixing. All the songs in the album are wonderful!! This album is better than thier previous album!!
  5. Jan 21, 2011
    10
    Fantastic album from a wonderful band. Several reviews are not represented by Metacritic so I've listed some extra ones below. This album is a stonker! "Divine... Time to laud British Sea Power for attaining greatness strictly
    on their own terms." **** Q magazine. "Devastatingly beautiful... a thickening and diversification of the band's
    sound." **** The Sunday Times. "Big and clever...
    Fantastic album from a wonderful band. Several reviews are not represented by Metacritic so I've listed some extra ones below. This album is a stonker! "Divine... Time to laud British Sea Power for attaining greatness strictly
    on their own terms." **** Q magazine. "Devastatingly beautiful... a thickening and diversification of the band's
    sound." **** The Sunday Times. "Big and clever... Their well of tuneful passion appears bottomless." The
    Word. "Heart-hammering exuberance, mighty waves of sound and crashing
    crescendos." **** The Daily Mirror. "An idiosyncratic state-of-nation address... incandescent." **** The
    Financial Times. "BSP look to the past not to in weak nostalgia, but to spur a dispirited
    present. Brawling... brainy... invigorating." The Independent. "Glorious unpredictability taken to new stratosphere-spanning extremes... A
    triumph." **** The Fly. "Captivating contrasts between the dreamy, the raucous and the vividly
    weird." **** The Metro of London town. "The album's strongest moments are the sound of a band reaching a creative
    zenith, a decade's worth of internal and external exploration writ large.
    Valhalla Dancefloor confirms British Sea Power's status as cast-iron
    national treasures." The Quietus website.
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  6. Jan 22, 2011
    6
    Whilst British Sea Power resolutely stick to their principles of unpredictability, Valhalla Dancehall runs aground in an effort to pack past glories with new found mid tempo multi textured arrangements that lack punch or focus

    http://hackskeptic.com/
Metascore
70

Generally favorable reviews - based on 22 Critic Reviews

Critic score distribution:
  1. Positive: 14 out of 22
  2. Negative: 0 out of 22
  1. Dec 19, 2011
    70
    Like all BSP records, Valhalla Dancehall aims for the nosebleed section while remaining oddly detached.
  2. Mojo
    Apr 12, 2011
    60
    Pugnacious indie squares up to all-comers. [Feb. 2011, p. 106]
  3. Q Magazine
    Feb 2, 2011
    80
    With Valhalla Dancehall, it's time to laud British Sea Power for attaining greatness strictly on their own terms. [Feb. 2011, p. 116]