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- Summary: This is the debut full-length release for the British septet was recorded live over seven days with producer Andy Savours.
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- Record Label: Ninja Tune
- Genre(s): Pop/Rock
- More Details and Credits »
Score distribution:
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Positive: 15 out of 17
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Mixed: 2 out of 17
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Negative: 0 out of 17
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Feb 8, 2021If the interplay between the band’s instruments makes gleeful mincemeat of genre, singing guitarist Isaac Wood’s equally remarkable lyrics regularly float to the top of the mix. Half-spoken, half-sung, they riff on granular scene references (“I told you I loved you in front of Black Midi”) and Gen-Z witticisms, but pack in plenty of timeless tenderness and anomie.
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Feb 1, 2021A product of its time, it will unsettle and confuse you, and there are even moments that feel poignant. That is why they will be remembered as an important band, and this album a significant milestone in modern guitar music.
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Feb 5, 2021For the First Time maintains a well-tempered intensity refined in its delivery but honest in its angst. Black Country, New Road show us what a "rock band" or "rock outfit" can achieve on their debut. For those bands labeled as experimental, we now have an expectation and a new benchmark.
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MojoFeb 1, 2021The young seven-piece have since progressed at warp-speed, here passing the full-length test with confidence. [Mar 2021, p.90]
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Feb 4, 2021Black Country, New Road are no gods, but this inventive and likeable album should earn them a million or so disciples.
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Feb 9, 2021Their portentous crescendos and surges of Jewish klezmer music set the pace, making post-rock sound improbably carnivalesque. That none of their experiments feel gimmicky speaks to a diverse and inquisitive musicianship.
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Feb 4, 2021It just feels tedious and predictable. Portentous twangs of guitar? Tick. Shivery percussion? Tick. Screeches of feedback? Tick. A frontman who delivers lyrics (rambling prose) in a croaky, squawking gasp that recalls Mark E Smith? Tick.
Score distribution:
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Positive: 12 out of 15
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Mixed: 2 out of 15
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Negative: 1 out of 15
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Feb 7, 2021
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Dec 11, 2021
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Feb 5, 2021
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Feb 16, 2021
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Oct 8, 2022
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Apr 2, 2021
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Feb 5, 2021
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