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Before A Million Universes Image
Metascore
76

Generally favorable reviews - based on 12 Critic Reviews What's this?

User Score
7.6

Generally favorable reviews- based on 5 Ratings

  • Summary: This is the second full-length release for the New York post-punk quartet.
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Top Track

National Parks
She was in the hospital Waiting on the patients Didn't have to twist her arm No such things as leisure Trying to break a fever Blood sprays from the... See the rest of the song lyrics
Score distribution:
  1. Positive: 7 out of 12
  2. Negative: 0 out of 12
  1. Mar 14, 2016
    82
    Big Ups combine the elements in such a way that compliments their signature style without ever compromising their identity; Before a Million Universes will almost certainly be one of the most interesting punk releases of 2016 because of that.
  2. Uncut
    Mar 4, 2016
    80
    As on debut Eighteen Hours Of Static, there's a sinister feel, as if you are being sometimes stalked an sometimes assaulted, often, as in the case of "So Much You," in the same song. [Apr 2016, p.69]
  3. 80
    Though it may have lost some of the urgency of their debut, Before a Million Universes has allowed the band to develop a level of genuine introspection rarely seen in the hardcore of today.
  4. Mar 17, 2016
    70
    Though it’s easy for Before a Million Universes to fit the roles of hunter and hunted, it stages itself by being as calculated as possible before putting its war paint and entering the jungle.
  5. Mar 4, 2016
    60
    They don’t often get the time to build a song from nothingness to explosion quite as well as they mastered on their debut. It’s a powerplay that largely works, yet still takes enough rests to showcase a frantically beating heart and a definite intelligence underneath.
  6. Mar 16, 2016
    60
    While this doesn’t exactly add up to any profound reinvention of genre, Before a Million Universes thrives best without thinking.
  7. Apr 13, 2016
    60
    The whole of it is too calculated, even if they occasionally hit the mark with an obvious attention to craft which, to be fair, certainly counts for something.

See all 12 Critic Reviews

Score distribution:
  1. Positive: 1 out of 1
  2. Mixed: 0 out of 1
  3. Negative: 0 out of 1
  1. Apr 9, 2016
    7
    TLDR: Some big Slint fans make an album 20 years too late...but it is really quite good.

    Do you like math rock? Post-hardcore? Midwest emo?
    TLDR: Some big Slint fans make an album 20 years too late...but it is really quite good.

    Do you like math rock? Post-hardcore? Midwest emo? Big Ups sure must, as they've taken directly from the likes of Slint, Fugazi, Modest Mouse, and others on their sophomore record. The punk band brings an entertaining ferocity to these tracks with raw guitar, bombastic drums, and, in true Slint style, mostly spoken-word, whispered vocals. Despite being extremely derivative, Big Ups definitely hold their own with some fantastic instrumentation and very solid songwriting. They know exactly what they are doing on this record and own it. Definitely check it out if you want to something raw and aggressive.

    76/100
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