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We'll Live and Die in These Towns Image
Metascore
61

Generally favorable reviews - based on 11 Critic Reviews What's this?

User Score
6.7

Generally favorable reviews- based on 15 Ratings

  • Summary: Formally known as The Bridges, the British band returns with a label, a new name, and a new album.
Score distribution:
  1. Positive: 4 out of 11
  2. Negative: 1 out of 11
  1. Thanks to Clarke's well-developed tune sense and his bandmates' primal need for speed, We'll Live and Die in These Towns doesn't sound the way life in a cubicle feels; if anything, it replicates the adrenaline rush of one of those YouTube videos in which a stir-crazy office worker decimates a copy machine.
  2. So here's what's brilliant about this band: the 11 songs here offer no solution, no way out and very little hope, making We'll Live and Die in These Towns as bleak in its own way as the Manic Street Preachers' The Holy Bible. The songs are brilliant, too.
  3. As debut albums go, it's unnerving that The Enemy are already this good and yet barely old enough to buy their own champagne when the ridiculously high chart placings inevitably come in.
  4. Fact is, the Enemy are better than that, and their debut full-length is also certainly better than some kind of classic Britpop rehash.
  5. That’s not to say that the Enemy are on anywhere near the scale of awfulness which the Ordinary Boys descended to, but the flaws in We Live and Die in These Towns mar an album which does have some silver linings.
  6. The point being that this album isn’t “terrible,” just sort of dull and boring.
  7. Under The Radar
    30
    These three Coventry lads crank out a predictable rock album with no real direction at all. [Fall 2008, p.86]

See all 11 Critic Reviews

Score distribution:
  1. Positive: 2 out of 2
  2. Mixed: 0 out of 2
  3. Negative: 0 out of 2
  1. DonJ
    Jul 30, 2007
    9
    Followed this band from the start, and so proud of what they have achieved. Many people in the industry think they are a one trick pony and Followed this band from the start, and so proud of what they have achieved. Many people in the industry think they are a one trick pony and '30 years out of date' but much of the midlands hasn't move on since the 70's. Each tune has its own character that get your foot tapping, then caped off with the happy birthday jane. Good luck lads Expand
  2. Sep 4, 2016
    8
    With lead single "Away From Here" is a rewrite of The Jam's "Going Underground" and the albums title track mirroring "That's Entertainment",With lead single "Away From Here" is a rewrite of The Jam's "Going Underground" and the albums title track mirroring "That's Entertainment", it's fair to say The Enemy are influenced by Paul Weller and co. The two songs I've mentioned actually border on brilliance regardless of their originality. The rest of the album has its moments as well. Plenty of Pistols based rock with snarly vocals ranting about the lives of the working class. In terms of the music, it's highly enjoyable. Lyrically, when Tom Clarke is on form he's clever, incisive and meaningful but at times plays on the working class thing too much. A well put together album that will be enjoyed by britpop enthusiasts. Collapse