Cavalcade
by Black Midi
Metascore
81

Universal acclaim - based on 22 Critic Reviews

Critic score distribution:
  1. Positive: 19 out of 22
  2. Mixed: 3 out of 22
  3. Negative: 0 out of 22
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  1. The Quietus
    Jun 4, 2021
    90
    Each track is a universe of its own, doing what art should do: using its own virtual space as an experimental testing ground to try those limits of taboo and impossibility that remain limited IRL. ... Cavalcade may prove to be one of the most accomplished albums of 2021; future classic of a happily undefined now-core genre. Humanity, level up. If they are giving us any taste of the immediate future, let the roaring twenties roll.
  2. Beats Per Minute
    May 28, 2021
    90
    Cavalcade is an experience album, one that lingers long after it’s over. It calls to you from the basement.
  3. Under The Radar
    May 28, 2021
    90
    The confidence and style with which black midi has taken these risks has led to every gamble paying off. It’s hard to imagine any rock album this year beating Cavalcade in pure genius.
  5. Clash Music
    May 27, 2021
    90
    It’s majestic and beautiful in ways I never expected black midi to reach, let alone attempt.
  6. Uncut
    May 25, 2021
    90
    What soon unfolds proves to be a profound evolution via the almost operatic crescendo that follows. Over the remaining five tracks, improvisational noise-rock gives way to more considered and structured songwriting, lush melodies and singer Geordie Greep’s new vocal style – which he croons with stirring tenderness. ... There’s not a single predictable second to be found on Cavalcade. [Jun 2021, p.23]
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  7. Exclaim
    May 25, 2021
    90
    Cavalcade is a record that modernizes jazz fusion, evolving it beyond its party yacht past. ... It's smart and well-calculated, expressing their range as musicians.
  8. The Line of Best Fit
    May 25, 2021
    90
    It’s a triumph of the UK underground and a singular vision of a band completely detached from their listeners expectations.
  9. The Wire
    Jul 28, 2021
    80
    Their second album offers something new and exciting. Their music is intricate and complex but also intense and fierce with bold, contrasting sections. [Aug 2021, p.55]
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  10. Dusted Magazine
    Jul 8, 2021
    80
    The album is beautifully sequenced overall. Sometimes the transitions purposefully jar and provoke—elsewhere they’re seamless, prolonging, elongating a motif.
  11. Glide Magazine
    May 28, 2021
    80
    Cavalcade, much like its title suggests, is the sum of its individual parts, a great collection of songs, but still, exactly that.
  12. Pitchfork
    May 28, 2021
    80
    The music’s relentless complexity, insularity, and high drama can be challenging even for a listener predisposed toward those qualities. The band seems to understand this, and they are more willing to meet you in the middle than you might think.
  13. The Guardian
    May 28, 2021
    80
    It’s a successful evolution: the maelstrom of moods stormed across the LP is masterful, from Hogwash and Balderdash’s slapstick skronk-funk riffage and the mathy, spiralling Slow, to Diamond Stuff’s tidal post-rock and Dethroned’s convulsive bassline.
  14. New Musical Express (NME)
    May 26, 2021
    80
    Black Midi will almost definitely never make easily digestible or understandable music – they’re probably as excited and confused about where they’re heading next as we are – but to focus on the finer points and try to make sense of it would be to miss the overall point of the band. Simply going down the rabbit hole with these deeply weird, brilliant musicians will never be less than exhilarating.
  15. Mojo
    May 25, 2021
    80
    Cavalcade harbours considerable thrills for those up to its challenges. [Jun 2021, p.83]
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  16. Rolling Stone
    May 28, 2021
    70
    The avant-rockers’ follow-up is even more unnerving and gloriously surreal — like gazing into hell through a kaleidoscope.
  17. AllMusic
    May 27, 2021
    70
    Cavalcade is intentionally oversaturated and designed to knock listeners off balance, and at its best, the album's overpowering rush of sounds and ideas communicates the excitement and a sense of unlimited possibilities.
  18. DIY Magazine
    May 27, 2021
    70
    'Cavalcade' is the sound of a band looking to broaden their horizons, but building from a sound already so idiosyncratic and unpredictable, they end up in some head-scratching corners. It's still thrillingly entertaining nonetheless.
  19. PopMatters
    May 25, 2021
    70
    Throughout Cavalcade, Black Midi displays superlative skills, fierce chemistry, and avant-garde vision, offering spellbinding performances while also, perhaps inevitably, falling prey to sonic tautologies and circuitousness.
  20. Paste Magazine
    May 26, 2021
    65
    Where Schlagenheim felt serrated and sharp-edged and packed tight with grooves, Cavalcade feels brooding and explorative. It’s wordy and lyric-minded, with long, serpentine narratives that unfold like shape-shifting fruit roll-ups.
  21. The Independent (UK)
    May 27, 2021
    60
    On Cavalcade, black midi feast on a smorgasbord of influences but the result at times can leave their sound meandering aimlessly.
  22. Slant Magazine
    May 25, 2021
    60
    It’s an atmosphere-focused album that attempts to express the nastier side of being alive. The result is evocative but not necessarily satisfying.
  23. Sputnikmusic
    Jun 1, 2021
    56
    Its moments of potential aren’t to be to be trifled with, but neither are they enough to elevate it from a stale sequence of overthought ideas, and this is a real tragedy given its stark contrast to the preview performance the band gave on KEXP back in April.

Awards & Rankings

95
#95 Most Discussed Album of 2021

User Reviews

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User Score
8.6

Universal acclaim- based on 46 Ratings

User score distribution:
  1. Positive: 42 out of 46
  2. Mixed: 3 out of 46
  3. Negative: 1 out of 46
  1. thepacificgamer
    Jun 2, 2021
    10
    Colour color; odour ogre symphony, lordee pedigree – clever test to ear, hear: chancellors, the best ever, beyond queer.

    %>% ; | ; 0    Colour color; odour ogre symphony, lordee pedigree – clever test to ear, hear: chancellors, the best ever, beyond queer.

    %>%

    ; | ; 0 {oups}

    %>%

    Exclaim:
    "Modernizes a smart and well-expressing past party yacht fusion, Cavalcade is musicians evolving; it's beyond 'its' – as that record, their jazz calculated range ... is"

    %>%

    [zuzzy buzzy boyz]    … Full Review »
  2. bailey-
    May 29, 2021
    9
    I thought that black midi would struggle to top Schlagenheim and I was wondering where they would go after such an amazing album, however,I thought that black midi would struggle to top Schlagenheim and I was wondering where they would go after such an amazing album, however, after hearing early versions of John L and Chondromalacia Patella, I knew that this album was going to be bigger and better than the last one. Tracks such as Marlene Dietrich and Ascending Fourth makes you question if this was the same band you first heard in 2019. But they smash it out of the park on this. There wasn't much wrong with this album at all and I'm eager to see what's next for black midi.

    Best Tracks: John L, Chondromalacia Patella, Slow, Diamond Stuff, Dethroned, Hogwash and Balderdash, Ascending Fourth

    Worst Tracks: Marlene Dietrich if I had to pick one    … Full Review »
  3. Acid3P
    Mar 1, 2022
    8
    21:15, smoky theatre somewhere in the basement of a shabby building in the worse neighbourhood of the metropolis: strange men in black21:15, smoky theatre somewhere in the basement of a shabby building in the worse neighbourhood of the metropolis: strange men in black turtlenecks with absent looks scoop up with rusty shovels the fragments of old psychedelic records and throw them into a prepared mixing bowl on the stage. Another member of this avant-garde theatre pours hectolitres of whiskey over the mix...
    ......that's exactly what Cavalcade is    … Full Review »
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