The Suburbs
by Arcade Fire
  • Record Label: Merge
  • Release Date: Aug 3, 2010
User Score
8.8

Universal acclaim- based on 792 Ratings

User score distribution:
  1. Positive: 732 out of 792
  2. Mixed: 28 out of 792
  3. Negative: 32 out of 792
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  1. noburns
    Aug 11, 2010
    6
    This is a decent album, however it is not in the ballpark, league or universe of Funeral (their debut) and Neon Bible was pretty darn good too. It's hard to see them reach the highest of highs and to wait years for their next and then get something that's just decent.
  2. Armington
    Aug 18, 2010
    6
    I don't think I'm quite feeling the brilliance of this album the way most seem to be. It's a pretty solid effort for sure but to me that's it. The band seemed to be stretching and testing themselves far more on their previous 2 albums, which were both outstanding. Their toning down on The Suburbs has lessened the impact of course, making this album more of a grower, but after severalI don't think I'm quite feeling the brilliance of this album the way most seem to be. It's a pretty solid effort for sure but to me that's it. The band seemed to be stretching and testing themselves far more on their previous 2 albums, which were both outstanding. Their toning down on The Suburbs has lessened the impact of course, making this album more of a grower, but after several listens I still find myself zoning out and forgetting it's on. For me the stand out track is undoubtedly 'Sprawl II', as this seems to be the song where their sounds actually mutates into something new and interesting. I may be in the minority but I think Arcade Fire have played it safe with this album, and that's not just because the songs are less grand. Where's the sparkling invention of tracks like Une Année Sans Lumière and Crown of Love, where the songs change pace and rhythm on a whim. On the first two albums I didn't know what to expect from one track to the next. With The Suburbs, at times its quite difficult distinguishing one song from the next, with none of them rivalling their best work… Expand
  3. MorganK
    Aug 7, 2010
    5
    Not in the ballpark of Funeral, though they do work to recreate that sparer sound, largely dropping the bombast from the trying-too-hard Neon Bible. They certainly have pushed their early The Cure influences to the forefront. It starts fairly strong - The Suburbs (and its album-closing revisit) is solid and Ready to Start is certainly the highlight of the album - but the majority of the Not in the ballpark of Funeral, though they do work to recreate that sparer sound, largely dropping the bombast from the trying-too-hard Neon Bible. They certainly have pushed their early The Cure influences to the forefront. It starts fairly strong - The Suburbs (and its album-closing revisit) is solid and Ready to Start is certainly the highlight of the album - but the majority of the tracks that follow fall rather flat. Modern Man fulfills the E-Street comparisons they've garnered for a while and is pretty dire, lyrically. The hipster-bashing Rococo is a fire and a miss, attacking a strawman target, and even worse, is annoying. Empty Room is short and pretty, but disappears quickly into the hand-clappy and dull City With No Children and the Beach House-y Half Light I. The tempo, and quality, picks back up briefly with the the second part, Half Light II, which wouldn't sound out of place on Achtung Baby. Month of May serves as a merciful change of pace, a little bit poppy post-punk, but it's still remarkably slight. After that, the album pretty much disappears into an unmemorable haze until it hits the two-part The Sprawl - the first half, Flatland, is pretty great and is the only thing that sounds like a genuine moment on the record. Too bad then it's followed up with the ABBA-esque second half, Mountains Beyond Mountains, with the most eye-rolling put-upon-artist lyrics in an album already filled with them: "They heard me singing and they told me to stop / quit these pretentious things and just punch the clock." Sadly, the album frequently delves into pitting the narrator against a phantom 'Them' or 'They' which is a really juvenile antagonist, it's vague, paranoid, and uninformed. If the band's hook is a world-weary adult's look back at the decline of childhood innocence, the lazy intangible of 'they' undermines anything learned from it. The repeated focus on being children and having children (riding bikes, running through the yard, learning to drive, etc.) and on placing them both in a nostalgic 1982 Steven Spielberg neighborhood ultimately doesn't cover any ground that the far superior Funeral didn't, and the lack of that record's energy, pathos and lyrical acumen make this seem largely redundant, and clearly lesser. I get that's the Arcade Fire's shtick, and perhaps it's not fair to always hold a band up to their earlier high-water mark, but the band themselves are so insistent on revisiting those same themes that the comparison is all but inevitable. There's a point where the romanticizing of childhood wonder falls away to a creepy Peter Pan refusal to accept growing up. Ultimately, a pretty solid disappointment, especially coming after the just-ok Neon Bible, and it leaves you with a feeling of a fizzled band that couldn't top their early flash of inspiration - a story arc not dissimilar to The Strokes. It's not awful, by any means, but it's uninspired and frequently just dull. There are so many directions that Arcade Fire could have taken their sound and achieved something compelling - I'm thinking of Nick Drake's Bryter Layter, Nick Cave's From Her to Eternity, Folklore, an orchestral take on Liars' Drum's Not Dead - anything but a less-engaging, overlong rehash of the album they made their name on.… Expand
  4. Craig
    Aug 6, 2010
    5
    I have to believe that all the favorable reviews of the album are more a sign of the overall mediocre output from the entire music industry. The songs are just average and the music is nothing to get excited about. Few people will play this album a year from now.
  5. Christopher
    Aug 9, 2010
    6
    If you like lifeless mediocre dad rock, this will likely be your album of the year.
  6. BrianR.
    Aug 6, 2010
    6
    Worst album of the catalogue. Too long for what it actually contains. None of the good sing-along moments from the first two albums. Rococo was my favorite track.
  7. centurysleuth
    Sep 30, 2010
    6
    I enjoyed the album, but it'd certainly did not strike me. Nor did I find any individual song as powerful as on Arcade's previous albums.
  8. pkindieboy
    Oct 12, 2010
    5
    I quite enjoy the overall sound of the album. Alas, the hooks are not strong enough to keep me interested. Maybe I'll come back to it, but for now, it's Deerhunter and No Age...
  9. mrtimmerz23
    Feb 15, 2011
    5
    The album definitely has it's high points but when listening to it, the overall slow, dull pace of it seems to kill the CD. Sometimes it's entirely possible to forget you're listening to music because it just gets drowned out after a bit.
  10. Tubie
    Nov 2, 2010
    6
    Sound way too generic at this point, I don't want to say mainstream yet but they probably should consider not making any more albums because it shows that the magic that created the first two albums simply isn't there anymore and this is a band I don't want to end up hating.

Awards & Rankings

11
#11 Best Album of 2010
8
#8 Most Discussed Album of 2010
15
#15 Most Shared Album of 2010

Critic Reviews

All reviews »
Metascore
87

Universal acclaim - based on 43 Critic Reviews

Critic score distribution:
  1. Positive: 40 out of 43
  2. Mixed: 3 out of 43
  3. Negative: 0 out of 43
  1. Expert Witness (MSN Music)
    Jan 5, 2011
    91
    With beats this straight and stolid, you'd better keep the anthems coming, and they do, almost.
    Read full review
  2. AllMusic
    80
    It's serious without being preachy, cynical without dissolving into apathy, and whimsical enough to keep both sentiments in line, and of all of their records, it may be the one that ages so well.
    Read full review
  3. Dusted Magazine
    90
    The Suburbs is a really good record, but it's clear that indie rock is not in Kansas anymore.
    Read full review
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