• Record Label: Instinct
  • Release Date: Aug 20, 2002
Metascore
67

Generally favorable reviews - based on 9 Critic Reviews

Critic score distribution:
  1. Positive: 4 out of 9
  2. Negative: 1 out of 9
  1. On Eternal Youth, Future Bible Heroes erase any idea of the band being a side-project and work together as a trio striving for the same artistic goals. In doing so, they may have created their masterpiece.
  2. Eternal Youth is broad and ambitious. Merritt's singing is missing; his baritone would have added a male perspective, not to mention an added playfulness. But Gonson suffices.
  3. Uncut
    80
    Recalls the more amusing moments of Momus and Stereolab. [Nov 2002, p.116]
  4. Like many Merritt projects, Eternal Youth contains its share of filler, and might have worked better as an EP than as a proper album. Still, its transcendent moments should win it a place in the hearts of those who once viewed their Cure or Bauhaus shirts as shorthand for a world of pain and alienation.
  5. Blender
    60
    Merritt's lyrics are typically playful, and Claudia Gonson coos them with dreamy detachment. [#9, p.146]
  6. Magnet
    60
    Fully realized tracks such as "Affection" and the peppy "I'm A Vampire" are so fetching that they eclipse the rest of Eternal Youth, which is padded with brief, blippy non-songs and is often top-heavy with (literal) bells and whistles. [#56, p.93]
  7. Eternal Youth feels like more of a lackluster stopgap than equal-footing sidecar for Merritt's songcraft, a frustrating teaser from the Merritt portfolio of aliases.
  8. It’s far from the level of a Magnetic Fields release – or even The 6ths for that matter – and, therefore, won’t appeal to casual fans.
  9. What's most shocking is the number of forgettable tracks, something Merritt typically manages to avoid.
User Score
tbd

No user score yet- Awaiting 2 more ratings

User score distribution:
  1. Positive: 2 out of 2
  2. Mixed: 0 out of 2
  3. Negative: 0 out of 2
  1. SaraP
    Jul 7, 2005
    9
    love it. even the song about killing yourself makes me happy. the end.