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Wilderness Image
Metascore
81

Universal acclaim - based on 8 Critic Reviews What's this?

User Score
7.5

Generally favorable reviews- based on 10 Ratings

  • Summary: This is the debut full-length for the Baltimore four-piece whose frontman (James Johnson) bears a strong vocal resemblance to John Lydon.
Score distribution:
  1. Positive: 8 out of 8
  2. Mixed: 0 out of 8
  3. Negative: 0 out of 8
  1. What Wilderness really seem to signify-- and what makes them important-- is a shift back towards the more cerebral end of the rock spectrum.
  2. Their songs are sublime and obnoxious and sure to inspire revulsion as much as admiration.
  3. Wilderness is one of those albums where if you like one song, you like the whole lot, and vice versa.
  4. A complex yet intriguing soundscape.
  5. Though The Wilderness is filled with stunning songs, by album’s end, they tend to meld together. Their uniformity is their greatest fault, though admittedly one that can be overlooked during its best moments.
  6. Magnet
    70
    Overwhelmingly desolate. [#69, p.112]
  7. Someone needs to tell them that just sounding important doesn’t mean they actually are important.

See all 8 Critic Reviews

Score distribution:
  1. Positive: 6 out of 9
  2. Negative: 1 out of 9
  1. MatthewS
    Jan 9, 2006
    10
    Overlooked and savagely underrated, Wilderness makes Joy Division's Closer look like it should have been sung by David Byrne
  2. Bartak
    May 16, 2006
    9
    The voice is powerful, the idiots don't know music if it bit them on their asses.
  3. TimH.
    Aug 24, 2009
    9
    These guys define originality and do it well. It took me a couple of times through to really appreciate how well the music and vocals These guys define originality and do it well. It took me a couple of times through to really appreciate how well the music and vocals harmonize and blend together. Great stuff. Expand
  4. jackkerouac
    Nov 16, 2005
    8
    wilderness is better than pil.
  5. RyanB
    Dec 3, 2005
    7
    Sounds good at first, but gets monotonous and boring. Good songs, but mediocre album. It's just missing something
  6. Tim
    Nov 17, 2005
    6
    The music is great. The lead singer's voice is incredibly annoying.
  7. JosephS
    Dec 4, 2005
    2
    None of these reviews contain the phrase "crazy yelling guy." If you're thinking about buying this album, please note that it there is a None of these reviews contain the phrase "crazy yelling guy." If you're thinking about buying this album, please note that it there is a crazy yelling guy, yelling all crazy, on every track. In fact, I downloaded this, burnt it onto a CD so I could listen to it in my car, and then threw it away. Collapse

See all 9 User Reviews

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