- Critic score
- Publication
- By date
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Q MagazinePretty much everything a second album needs to be, it's like Is This It but more emotional, more colourful, slightly better. [Nov 2003, p.102]
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SpinRoom's similarity to its predecessor ultimately bespeaks a purity of vision, not a dearth of new ideas. [Dec 2003, p.121]
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The album is arguably better than the group's much-heralded debut, if by "better" we just mean more sonically impressive overall.
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‘Room On Fire’ is a refining and tinkering with The Strokes sound, a carefully calibrated attempt not to fuck up too early in the face of untold temptations. The results are still sleek, sexy and thrilling, with a tantalising promise of even better to come.
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The Strokes don't make the most original sounding music you've ever heard, but they make something that is only The Strokes.
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There's so much more musical depth on Room on Fire, that it makes most of the band's earlier songs sound stale in comparison.
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Alternative PressBetter than its predecessor. [Dec 2003, p.150]
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An adrenaline-fueled head-rush of precision-perfect pop tunes about modern life.
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Room on Fire is a passionate, 32-minute burning effigy of the seemingly insurmountable expectations fans and critics had for the record.
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FilterIt literally sounds like the Strokes, but it lacks heart. Which means it replicates the first album in form, but not substance. [#8, p.100]
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Jun 6, 2013[Casablancas] builds atmosphere out of evocative lyrics and emotional scenery, and he does it without leaning on linear narrative or songs with singular interpretations.
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In the face of hysterical expectation, the Strokes have resisted the temptation to hit the brakes, grow up and screw around with a sound that doesn't need fixing -- yet.
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On Room On Fire, the band has the good sense to do what it does best and leave listeners wanting more.
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That there's nothing new or innovative to be found here is sure to be a common complaint, though only those who prize evolution over knowing one's strengths will cry fraud.
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Frankly, this is it all over again.
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Great, better even than the last.
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Uncut[Casablancas'] remarkable performance enlivens even the album's most underwhelming passages. [Nov 2003, p.108]
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This compressed feel, the precision of the band's playing and arrangements, and the way every song comes to an abrupt stop sometimes make the album sound too closed-off.
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Room on Fire is the sound of a tighter, more focused band.
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Entertainment WeeklyAnyone who invested anything in Is This It is destined to walk away from Room On Fire a little disappointed. [31 Oct 2003, p.71]
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Stylus MagazineReview 1: This is what they do- they don’t ape other bands. They ape pop music. And they do it better than any other band right now. [score=80]; Review 2: 33 minutes and 34 seconds of the SAME album! [score=65]
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MojoThe Strokes come across as a world-sized band that's tethering itself.... Nonetheless, this record is good. [Nov 2003, p.124]
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It’s a better album than Is This It, but then again, so were a dozen other rock records that year.
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Sounds like it was recorded in a tin can and constructed from leftovers off the group's debut.
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BlenderThe fine distinction between cool and blase, aloof and distant, seems to have eluded them. [Nov 2003, p.106]
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MagnetThere's something undeniably mechanical about Room On Fire. [#61, p.107]
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A roaring opener, a trio of great potential singles and a remarkable slow number successfully divert attention from the fact that half of Room on Fire is uninspired filler.
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There's nothing about the quintet's second album that audibly acknowledges the impact of its debut.
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The central flaw of Room on Fire is the lack of hooks.
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Even the half-hearted retreads ("You Talk Way Too Much," "Between Love & Hate") cashing in on the notoriously unwashed NYC quintet's debut can't muster a wink.
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There's little of the pop sparkle that shone through the likes of 'The Modern Age' and 'Last Nite' even when - as with 'You Talk Way Too Much' - they're rewriting old material, and Julian's vocals are, to be blunt, awful, sounding uncomfortable to record and rather complacently nasal.
Awards & Rankings
User score distribution:
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Positive: 305 out of 330
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Mixed: 14 out of 330
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Negative: 11 out of 330
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Nov 5, 2010
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Apr 14, 2017
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Dec 17, 2011