• Record Label: Sub Pop
  • Release Date: Jan 20, 2015
Metascore
90

Universal acclaim - based on 39 Critic Reviews

Critic score distribution:
  1. Positive: 39 out of 39
  2. Mixed: 0 out of 39
  3. Negative: 0 out of 39
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  1. Jan 20, 2015
    90
    The first and lasting impression of No Cities to Love is one of joy, a joy that emanates from a group who realized the purpose and pleasure of being in a band during their extended absence.
  2. Alternative Press
    Jan 7, 2015
    90
    They've returned fully charged on the triumphant No Cities To Love. [Feb 2015, p.94]
  3. Apr 9, 2015
    89
    The Oregonians' confident comeback is balls-out bold, the threepiece returning with fresh vitality.
  4. Jan 20, 2015
    90
    Thrilling and joyous, fierce and focused, the women sound like they’re having the time of their lives sinking their teeth back into the music together.
  5. Jan 12, 2015
    75
    No Cities to Love& is not a complete triumph, the totally devastating statement of revived purpose that they might have intended, but it's not for lack of trying.
  6. Jan 16, 2015
    90
    It immediately stakes its claim as the rock album of 2015.
  7. Jan 12, 2015
    91
    They’ve boiled their process down to its essentials, and No Cities to Love crams genius lyrics and hook after inescapable hook into just 10 tracks and 33 minutes.
  8. Jan 12, 2015
    100
    Though some of their peers may have waned on their long, drawn out returns, Sleater-Kinney have only grown stronger in their time off. Ten years away has made them more essential than ever. Nostalgia be dammed.
  9. Jan 12, 2015
    90
    Sleater-Kinney are one of the great rock bands and No Cities To Love is the perfect comeback: a treat for die-hard fans as well, a perfect introduction for newcomers--and what a journey that’ll be.
  10. Jan 23, 2015
    80
    Sleater-Kinney is back in all its spiky, brainy, let-a-bunch-of-ideas-fight-it-out glory.
  11. 100
    Even though they're no longer underdogs—their last album, 2005's The Woods, cemented their rep as one of the all-time great groups—that hasn't changed on their triumphant return.
  12. Jan 16, 2015
    90
    There's not enough space here to get into why Sleater-Kinney may be one of the most important bands of 2015, but one thing is clear: they've already delivered a serious contender for one of the year's best records.
  13. Kerrang!
    Feb 2, 2015
    80
    This, album number eight, is ample reward for anyone who kept the faith. [17 Jan 2015, p.53]
  14. Magnet
    Feb 20, 2015
    80
    It's a furious, loud, unbridled, relentless album. [No. 117, p.60]
  15. Mojo
    Feb 2, 2015
    100
    No Cities To Love stares down its troubles, power and joy ultimately lying in the hands of the people who can write such songs. [Feb 2015, p.86]
  16. Jan 20, 2015
    100
    Somehow, from nothing, they’ve pulled off a surprising but oh so welcome return, and this record plays like a triumphant middle finger salute, coolly showing everyone how its done... and writing the first line on a thousand ‘album of the year’ lists before January’s even out.
  17. It’s heavy, assured and profound--a terrific record alone, but also one that sits in the Sleater-Kinney catalogue naturally, like they’ve never been away.
  18. As always, the words have a political edge, touching on the evaporating middle class and the difficulties of forging mass movements. Thankfully, they’re expressed poetically, with no stink of political correctness.
  19. Jan 23, 2015
    90
    Clocking in at a mere 32 minutes, the album is conceptually and sonically tight.
  20. Jan 14, 2015
    80
    The 10 songs are tense and commanding, loaded with nervy post-punk charge, ricocheting rhythms and electric guitars both zippy and busy and wild and bucking.
  21. Jan 20, 2015
    90
    On Sleater-Kinney’s eighth album, the band sounds as vital, composed and necessary as ever. In just 10 songs and a little over 30 minutes, Sleater-Kinney does so much more than revive an old band. They craft an argument for having improved in its absence.
  22. Jan 20, 2015
    87
    The album has the particular aliveness of music being created and torn from a group at this very moment--tempered, but with the wild-paced abandon that comes with being caged and then free.
  23. Jan 20, 2015
    90
    No Cities to Love exceeds all expectations of what a reunion album should sound like by not sounding like a reunion album.
  24. 91
    What a breathless--and breathtaking--comeback it is.
  25. Q Magazine
    Jan 7, 2015
    80
    Newcomers may be amazed that a rock band can still feel so vital. Even diehard fans will wonder at the sheer melodic intensity. [Feb 2015, p.107]
  26. Jan 29, 2015
    80
    No Cities To Love is Sleater- Kinney’s most focused, accessible and often furious work.
  27. Jan 12, 2015
    80
    The most exciting thing about No Cities is that Sleater-Kinney are one of those bands again--they sound as hungry, as unsettled, as restless as any of the rookies on their jock.
  28. Jan 7, 2015
    70
    Accept the slight strain of portentousness to this album, though, and you'll find a world-class rock band in as fine form as ever.
  29. Jan 16, 2015
    90
    No Cities to Love spends much of its running time reminding us not what Corin Tucker, Carrie Brownstein, and Janet Weiss can do but what other configurations of players can't.
  30. Jan 23, 2015
    84
    No Cities To Love is a triumph. Not only does it meet every one of our over-the-top demands as fans, it serves as a great entry point for those new comers who have yet to be introduced to one of the most important bands of the last quarter century.
  31. Jan 13, 2015
    85
    No Cities To Love finds the trio facing inwards, rocking out in a tight space, writing short and punchy punk songs and just generally enjoying bouncing off each other once more.
  32. Jan 20, 2015
    91
    No Cities To Love is a bold and deeply revealing look at the band’s past nine years, both together and apart.
  33. Jan 15, 2015
    80
    No Cities to Love is a towering, fists-up record of thundering guitars and soaring hooks.
  34. 90
    No Cities to Love confirms that whatever alchemy seems to occur whenever the three sit down to make music together remains untouched by the passage of time. To put it simply, Sleater-Kinney have now made eight records, and they are all very, very good
  35. Jan 20, 2015
    80
    Corin Tucker’s yelp remains a thing of wonder, Brownstein’s lead guitar never takes the easy option and Janet Weiss’s drums anchor all the thrilling unease.
  36. Jan 21, 2015
    80
    While the tightly managed polish and control perhaps doesn't grab the heart in the visceral way of older Sleater-Kinney, an emotional urgency remains on this album, albeit conveyed with greater sophistication.
  37. The Wire
    Jan 9, 2015
    70
    For the most part, the album makes a convincing argument for Sleater-Kinney's continued relevance. [Jan 2015, p.63]
  38. Uncut
    Jan 7, 2015
    80
    Throughout, their balance of the tense and clanging with the urgently poppy is impeccable. [Feb 2015, p.76]
  39. Jan 22, 2015
    85
    Brilliance notwithstanding, it's really best to experience No Cities to Love on its own terms, rather than by comparison to past classics: as a loud, exciting, barely-half-hour rock record. Its simplicity is matched by its richness and vitality.
User Score
8.2

Universal acclaim- based on 167 Ratings

User score distribution:
  1. Negative: 7 out of 167
  1. Feb 3, 2015
    5
    Cannot for the life of me understand the overwhelmingly positive reviews this album is getting. No doubt, it's a sophisticated work, just likeCannot for the life of me understand the overwhelmingly positive reviews this album is getting. No doubt, it's a sophisticated work, just like everything else in Sleater Kinney's past--the two-punch guitar attack of Corin Tucker and Carrie Brownstein is still as dynamic as it ever was--and the album still retains the defiant spirit of punk feminism that characterized their early works. But this album does nothing more than reaffirm strengths that were established 15 years ago, and the melodies are for the most part generic pop melodies that sound too radio-friendly to be Sleater-Kinney. I'm not saying this album had to be a follow-up to The Woods, but damn this is boring. You can listen to the album once and you've heard everything you already need to hear. Full Review »
  2. Jan 20, 2015
    10
    I didn't think that the metascore would be so high, honestly, but it's good to see that this excellent, excellent, album gets the reviews thatI didn't think that the metascore would be so high, honestly, but it's good to see that this excellent, excellent, album gets the reviews that it deserves. And, hopefully, the attention S-K deserves.

    I loved it, focused and thrashing punk, always with the meaningful lyrics that represents them. This is quintessential Sleater-Kinney, with Janet precise drumming, Carrie's very creative riffs, and Corin's powerful voice. I don't think there's gonna be something better in rock this year.
    Full Review »
  3. Jan 20, 2015
    10
    The 10 years they've been away have likely provided fertile ground for the subject matter of this brand new opus of theirs. Also easily hasThe 10 years they've been away have likely provided fertile ground for the subject matter of this brand new opus of theirs. Also easily has their most riveting compositions, musically speaking, since The Hot Rock. Leave it to Sleater-Kinney never rest on laurels, even when they've got too many to comfortably lay on. 32 minutes of laser-cut precision striking with the force of a sledgehammer. Full Review »