• Record Label: Matador
  • Release Date: Feb 19, 2013
Metascore
80

Generally favorable reviews - based on 41 Critic Reviews

Critic score distribution:
  1. Positive: 37 out of 41
  2. Negative: 0 out of 41
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  1. Kerrang!
    Mar 6, 2013
    100
    Album number two towers over its predecessor.... There's beauty within these snapshots of frenzy where there was once just void. [16 Feb 2013, p.52]
  2. Feb 21, 2013
    90
    Iceage's You're Nothing is one of the most exciting, open-minded pop punk (not THAT sort) albums I've heard in years.
  3. Feb 21, 2013
    90
    Despite the group’s apathetic demeanor, it makes you wonder if each track on You’re Nothing’s sublime dirge is a result of those fleeting moments of carnal ecstasy, as it’s hard not to get lost in the beaten and bruised squalor Iceage expels on their grittiest--and best--album yet.
  4. Whatever genre you’re into, whatever your favourite publication has said about these guys; Iceage are here to stay and You’re Nothing is one of the best albums of its time.
  5. Feb 19, 2013
    86
    Iceage write brilliant songs; on You're Nothing, they've found a way to clarify these compositional skills without stripping away their power.
  6. Feb 19, 2013
    85
    Iceage mine the clangorous middle ground between traditional punk structures and the often sterile world of Joy Division-indebted post-punk, but they transcend both of those genres, just by meaning what they say.
  7. 85
    The result is an intelligent and thrilling collection of existential punk-rock that has so much more to offer than those two paltry words, “punk” or “rock” could ever suggest.
  8. Magnet
    Feb 8, 2013
    85
    The coarse sonic atmosphere remains, but in nearly every other respect, the evolution is substantial. [No.95, p.56]
  9. Entertainment Weekly
    Feb 20, 2013
    83
    The band's second exercise in the dark arts bulks up their sound without losing its ascetic ferocity, pummeling adjacent skinny-jeans genres into one formidable whole. [22 Feb 2013, p.74]
  10. 83
    The vocals on You’re Nothing, however, are much more emotive and indicative of a newfound acknowledgement of the singer’s vulnerability as a frontman. The result is anything but sappy.
  11. Mar 15, 2013
    80
    Less dense than New Brigade but equally as prowling, You’re Nothing spits and stuns.
  12. 80
    Even if You’re Nothing lacks the raw immediacy of their debut, it sees Iceage defining the parameters of their sound.
  13. Feb 21, 2013
    80
    Yes, the angsty lyrics are occasionally comprehensible and the songs, which sometimes push past the three-minute mark, have slightly more breathing room, but the chilly, irritated scrape is just as potent.
  14. Feb 19, 2013
    80
    Iceage have developed a record reaching out in many directions without straining to make any points.
  15. Feb 19, 2013
    80
    The real takeaway from this record should be that his band is officially worth the hype they have generated, and are capable of a whole lot more than we ever anticipated.
  16. Feb 19, 2013
    80
    Amidst a sonic atmosphere of clenched-fist roughness, one can find stark beauty and honest emotional value in the lyrics of lead singer Elias Bender Rønnenfelt
  17. Feb 19, 2013
    80
    Drawing you in precisely because it is so uncompromising and unrelenting, You’re Nothing is anything but nothing, a rare album where you can tell the artists put everything into it and you get just as much out of it.
  18. Feb 19, 2013
    80
    You're Nothing turns everything up--it's smarter, faster, catchier and noisier than their debut, more a Funhouse than a Rock for Light.
  19. Feb 19, 2013
    80
    Yet beneath the noise, the songs seem more fully realised, more memorable, than on their at times fragmentary debut.
  20. Feb 19, 2013
    80
    You're Nothing is the magnificent transition from teens powered by punk angst to men mastering aggressive rock songs.
  21. The Wire
    Feb 15, 2013
    80
    The most interesting thing about this music isn't so much that it exists in 2013, more that there still seems to be a fundamental need for it. [Feb 2013, p.58]
  22. Q Magazine
    Feb 8, 2013
    80
    There's always something clever going on over the rhythmic chug. [Mar 2013, p.102]
  23. Uncut
    Feb 8, 2013
    80
    White-knuckle anthemicism is order of the day, and vocalist Elias Bender Ronnenfelt seem to gave grown into his skin. [Mar 2013, p.73]
  24. May 30, 2013
    78
    For a band with so many fascinating implications, You're Nothing's catchiness shouldn't be overlooked.
  25. Feb 19, 2013
    75
    Iceage’s sophomore disc may not match the jagged punch and pulse of its debut, but it points the way toward an escape from its frigid, self-imposed cell.
  26. Feb 19, 2013
    75
    Iceage still thrills here, hurtling through tangled, fuzzed-out hard-core jams that rarely stretch past the three-minute mark.
  27. Feb 12, 2013
    75
    The lyrics resonate hard, though, felt most strongly when Rønnenfelt sings with broad expressive shouts.
  28. Feb 19, 2013
    74
    A record that’s as jittery and unhinged as it is perversely spot-on.
  29. Mar 13, 2013
    70
    You're Nothing is an album full of power--power which makes you think and react viscerally.
  30. Feb 21, 2013
    70
    You're Nothing is a punk record, though Iceage's broad creative palette pushes constantly at the limits of that term. Of a piece with 2011's New Brigade, it also serves as an encouraging progression.
  31. Feb 20, 2013
    70
    These songs won’t convert skeptics, but they’ll give the faithful a few bloody noses.
  32. Feb 19, 2013
    70
    Even on their raw 2011 debut, Iceage knew how to sculpt the noise into songs, but You're Nothing is a huge jump forward.
  33. Feb 19, 2013
    70
    Iceage has only improved on its formula of turbulent energy and disaffected poetry, managing still to sound youthful, even juvenile--not such a stretch, age-wise--while reaching toward new ambitions.
  34. Feb 15, 2013
    70
    It’s an intriguing mixture of pure punk, post punk, and first-wave emo--think Fugazi or Rites Of Spring--though the moments of deliberate discordance are as frequent as the buried melodic gems.
  35. Alternative Press
    Feb 8, 2013
    70
    It ain't pretty, but the intensity is undeniable. [Mar 2013, p.92]
  36. Feb 8, 2013
    70
    Easy on the ears they are not, yet it’s hard not to get swept along by Iceage’s droll, disaffected but ultimately joyous punk surge.
  37. Apr 11, 2013
    60
    For as strong as much of the material on You’re Nothing may be, it is an uneven record, without the focus or pacing of its predecessor.
  38. Feb 13, 2013
    60
    Despite its abrasiveness, You’re Nothing is resolutely conservative in its insular aim of pleasing the only audience that matters: Iceage themselves.
  39. Feb 19, 2013
    50
    You're Nothing provides another solid 12 tracks of loud, bleak teenage ennui, but with a comparative lack of genre diversity.
  40. Feb 14, 2013
    40
    Presumably the sense that it might all fall apart at any moment is meant to convey quite how wild and couldn't-give-a-toss they are, even though it means the brutal attack of the music is lost in exchange.
User Score
7.7

Generally favorable reviews- based on 41 Ratings

User score distribution:
  1. Positive: 34 out of 41
  2. Negative: 2 out of 41
  1. Apr 9, 2013
    10
    They're something! Icegae, the Noise Rock Post-Punk Punk Rock album is the greatest album in its genre so far! By far, Iceage is worth while.They're something! Icegae, the Noise Rock Post-Punk Punk Rock album is the greatest album in its genre so far! By far, Iceage is worth while. It's noisy, crazy and loud. Get it now! Full Review »
  2. Nov 19, 2022
    7
    Album number two hold nothing back,in fact it returns with more! Improving on the headbashing punk of their debut this 22min sequel is aAlbum number two hold nothing back,in fact it returns with more! Improving on the headbashing punk of their debut this 22min sequel is a satisfying wall of noise from the stunning opener "ecstasy " to the innovative "morals " theres just so much to enjoy here. One of the best noise rock albums in recent memory. Full Review »
  3. May 19, 2013
    7
    With You’re Nothing, Iceage, a Danish Punk band bring us their second album. It’s not all Punk though, and you can see this in first trackWith You’re Nothing, Iceage, a Danish Punk band bring us their second album. It’s not all Punk though, and you can see this in first track “Ecstasy” which channels some post-punk and their are also some Noise Rock vibes flowing through the album. But the first track works really well going back and forth from Hardcore Punk to Post-Punk. The vocals on the album is how I feel the vocals should have been on Bring Me The Horizon’s latest album, they should take note.

    The album stays energetic for it’s entire length of not even thirty minuets, but it is still longer than White Lung’s Sorry. The only track where there is a lack of energy is in “Interlude” which feels out of place because of this. It’s not as if it’s at 1:44 but it’s unnecessary, it doesn’t tie two songs together, it doesn’t really work as an intro, it’s just sat there.

    The album cruises along at a constant pace of Punk, feeling aggressive on “Burning Hand” and “In Haze” but not quite going to the sound of the album’s opener. But this is where we get to the bass heavy tracks “Morals” and “Everything Drifts.”

    “Morals” starts with the bass plodding along at an energetic pace with piano in the background, it feels very light but moody. The tempo changes for the chorus and it really gets going. The whole song works well with this blend of an unusual verse chorus formula, it’s like a roller-coaster that you want to turn up really loud and head-bang to.

    “Everything Drifts” gives us bass and more bass with a bass intro and a bass break. It’s one of the more old school Punk moments on the album. I feel the modern sounding vocals that sing more than scream/shout/growl, they are clearer but still maintain a Punk feel which gives this album life. The song goes strong until the break where it gains almighty strength, I just wish it was longer and slightly more progressive, but this is Punk.

    The rest of the album doesn’t really come back after the double bill, it carries on the same energy as before but lacks to go anywhere. But it still shakes you and makes you listen. It keeps you going and in it’s short length it never drags. It keeps going and you want to make it too the end, although I did find album closer disappointing, maybe because it was the end.

    Overall, whilst lacking in progression, it’s a blast and you’ll love it for the brief time it’s on.
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