Metascore
82

Universal acclaim - based on 8 Critic Reviews

Critic score distribution:
  1. Positive: 7 out of 8
  2. Negative: 0 out of 8
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  1. Apr 29, 2021
    80
    The few songs where Oldham and Sweeney strike up the band -- guest shredding and revved-up rhythms by Tuareg guitarist Mdou Moctar and his band on "Hall of Death" or the tense brooding of album closer "Not Fooling" -- are lively fun, but much like Superwolf many years before it, Superwolves is at its most powerful in its calmest, most clearly articulated moments.
  2. May 4, 2021
    76
    Where Superwolf imagined Sweeney and Oldham as blood-splattered riders or jealousy-crazed sailors turning into godless cannibals and sodomites, Superwolves has them sitting on the porch and watching the sun set as their children play in the high grass. ... That makes for a less gripping experience; the predecessor’s bitter, sexual tone made it unique and unforgettable, working off of the subconscious urges of the post 9/11 George Bush Jr. era, but the sequel’s gentle acceptance of the world and all therein allows something thought impossible on that first album: forgiveness.
  3. Mojo
    Apr 29, 2021
    80
    Matt Sweeney's commitment to supply Bonnie "Prince" Billy with "guitar parts that hold his voice like a chalice holds wine" is fully delivered upon here. [May 2021, p.76]
  4. May 4, 2021
    80
    The original Superwolf was the product of two loners delighting in how easily those solitudes intertwined. Superwolves’ success, then, is unimaginable without the 16-year hiatus between albums. Both artists needed to wander, to lose themselves, to become strangers again—even if only in their artistic partnership—so they could come back together and find that the rearranged pieces somehow still fit.
  5. Apr 29, 2021
    80
    The most uncanny, and most impressive, thing about the record might be that the pair sound even more focused, and more comfortable in their unforced eccentricity, than they did on Superwolf. There’s really no one else out there making songs like this; let’s hope we don’t have to wait another 16 years for more.
  6. Uncut
    Apr 29, 2021
    80
    The deliciously tense opener, “Make Worry For Me”, proves their close chemistry persists, but it’s the quieter, more solemn back half of this long album – in particular the delicate “You Can Regret What You Have Done” – that fi nds them leaning on each other like best unbeaten brothers. [May 2021, p.32]
  7. Apr 30, 2021
    94
    Almost indisputably their best, a collection of deeply resonant songs based in Oldham’s folk-leaning melodies and often-bizarre lyrics embellished with gorgeous guitar arrangements that range from rock to country, and even some of dashes of Malian music. ... One of the year’s best so far.

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