Metascore
84

Universal acclaim - based on 23 Critic Reviews

Critic score distribution:
  1. Positive: 22 out of 23
  2. Negative: 0 out of 23
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  1. Oct 13, 2016
    90
    There are so many ways into Blood Bitch that it’s dizzying: Chris Kraus, Nino Nardini, the synths, the immensely pillowy hooks, black metal, menstrala. The themes run from menstruation to vampires to capitalism to loneliness to pap smears, and any thread you pick can take you to the core. You have been invited in.
  2. Sep 29, 2016
    90
    Stark but lush, these are pop songs for moonlit lakes, soft throbs to bob in while no one else is looking.
  3. 90
    Jenny Hval remains one of the most powerful, honest and funny performers working in music today, and this dissection of her self and her work is fascinating to the point of obsession.
  4. Oct 4, 2016
    85
    Blood Bitch an interesting step forward from previous record Apocalypse, girl. It takes the guilty, ominous tone of that record and transforms it into something transcendent.
  5. Oct 4, 2016
    83
    Hval is a clear disciple of Kraus. On paper, Kraus moves fluidly from reference to reference, dense with ideas; Hval’s music is like this, too, and never more than on Blood Bitch.
  6. Sep 29, 2016
    83
    All that’s left to do is to approach the album the way you would modern art at a museum: with open ears, curious eyes, and a desire to exit with a newfound ability to find beauty in most everything around you.
  7. The Wire
    Nov 8, 2016
    80
    This wonderful music is most certainly bleeding freely from somewhere deep inside Jenny Hval. [Nov 2016, p.58]
  8. Oct 19, 2016
    80
    Despite controversial lyrics, unconventional song structures, and a lofty concept, Blood Bitch somehow fits like a defiant glove against all the odds.
  9. Oct 13, 2016
    80
    Blood Bitch is a record that doesn’t try to be anything. Whereas Apocalypse, Girl was contrived and Viscera was uneventful, this record is dreamy and memorable, both through its illusion of simplicity and its gentle invitation to listeners.
  10. Oct 10, 2016
    80
    [A] short but highly intriguing record from Norwegian pop experimentalist Jenny Hval.
  11. Oct 10, 2016
    80
    A more cohesive listen than 2015's Apocalypse, girl, but it never feels like an explicitly safe experience.
  12. Oct 7, 2016
    80
    A bewitching album from an artist at the peak of her powers.
  13. Sep 30, 2016
    80
    Musically, Blood Bitch plays a lot with drone, feedback and white noise, while simultaneously handing huge portions of songs over to the most melodic and annoyingly catchy work Hval has ever made.
  14. Sep 30, 2016
    80
    It’s about making art in a capitalistic society, where the artist must cannibalize every part of herself and offer it to a sometimes unwilling and unreceptive audience. It’s all a quest for immortality and staying power among icy cold synths, quiet samples and screaming. Sometimes, Jenny Hval is the vampire, and sometimes she’s the one bleeding.
  15. Sep 28, 2016
    80
    Blood Bitch won't reward casual listeners, but it offers plenty to those who want to get a little lost.
  16. Sep 27, 2016
    80
    The most uncomfortable elements of life, colliding to create frantic, disorganised, but completely coherent mess, this record isn’t basic. It’s anything but.
  17. Sep 19, 2016
    80
    An intimate existential chronicle of imprisonment and liberation, its visceral, blood-smeared intensity works off a steady heartbeat of acute artistic ferment, the roiling passion underlying Hval's powerful declaration of self.
  18. Mojo
    Sep 14, 2016
    80
    Hval's most rounded missive to date unsettles. [Oct 2016, p.98]
  19. Sep 14, 2016
    80
    Blood Bitch confirms her singular methodology is now at its most surgically precise and bold. In realising her uncontainable ambitions, one might even suggest it represents Hval's coming of age. [Oct 2016, p.38]
  20. Sep 14, 2016
    80
    Hval’s most personal record, Blood Bitch is an understated but intriguing album by a perpetually fascinating artist.
  21. Sep 14, 2016
    80
    It’s an absorbing mix of spooky comedown synthtronics, night-time traffic ambience, electro glitches and animals scratching at the door, over which Hval sings, whispers, talks and pants her feelings and philosophies.
  22. Oct 4, 2016
    70
    it. At times, this is probably easier to admire than to actually sit down and enjoy, but it’s an impressive achievement nonetheless.
  23. 58
    Blood Bitch commits the ultimate crime of all so-called concept albums: there is undeniable effort in the subject and story it was supposed to tell, but little magic in the execution.

Awards & Rankings

User Score
8.0

Generally favorable reviews- based on 35 Ratings

User score distribution:
  1. Positive: 29 out of 35
  2. Negative: 2 out of 35
  1. Oct 11, 2016
    5
    I just don't get how some reviewers just ignored such a masterpiece as Innocence is Kinky and are loving this weird mess. This album has aI just don't get how some reviewers just ignored such a masterpiece as Innocence is Kinky and are loving this weird mess. This album has a cool concept, but is sooo unfocused instrumentally. Full Review »
  2. Sep 30, 2016
    9
    This album is her most focused work to date. Not only that, but it is deeply personal, introspective and sometimes, disturbing. But, theThis album is her most focused work to date. Not only that, but it is deeply personal, introspective and sometimes, disturbing. But, the glue that hold it all together is Jenny's vocals and the way she massages her words to create a world all her own. Some of the tracks may be difficult to get through, but the end result is a breathtaking journey that makes you question what it is to be human. Full Review »
  3. Feb 9, 2021
    10
    This album is the most focused and high concept Jenny has been the duration of her career. Her 'vampire album' explores blood through theThis album is the most focused and high concept Jenny has been the duration of her career. Her 'vampire album' explores blood through the female experience kept taboo :periods.
    Through soft quasi-ambient compositions that feel large and fully formed even when under a minute(Ritual Awakening)she tells the tale of a female vampire with a high libido and bloodlust. She as well begins to dissect her own femininity through this character . The unaltered pain of "in the red" turns into pure romantic infatuation into the pop highlight "conceptual romance " which achieve her ambitious atttemp at conventional pop structures but decides to back out creating an ethereal manifesto of pure optimism shrouded in heaviness. The syths are what drive the entire release. Forming an ominous backbone for this genius to weave itself around. This album only flaw,to others atleast not myself, is that firstly it's cohesiveness can sometimes make it feel like one long song since sonic variety isn't it's strong suit and secondly it's best appreciated when comsumed whole in chronological order. Favourites: conceptual romance, in the red,the great undressing, untamed region, female vampire
    Full Review »