Why Love Now
by Pissed Jeans
  • Record Label: Sub Pop
  • Release Date: Feb 24, 2017
Metascore
76

Generally favorable reviews - based on 20 Critic Reviews

Critic score distribution:
  1. Positive: 16 out of 20
  2. Mixed: 4 out of 20
  3. Negative: 0 out of 20
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  1. Magnet
    Apr 14, 2017
    90
    It's best record. [No. 141, p.61]
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  2. Drowned In Sound
    Feb 24, 2017
    90
    Why Love Now is the first in a potentially endless stream of politically charged punk rock records this year. However, it’s extremely hard to see any of them trumping this glorious, if uncomfortable, masterpiece.
  3. The Line of Best Fit
    Feb 13, 2017
    85
    With riffs weighted so they're heavy enough to bludgeon, and vocals that feel like they're being torn straight from the larynx, the album is a tour de force of high octane refrains and filth-driven focus.
  5. The Observer (UK)
    Feb 27, 2017
    80
    Why Love Now, PJ’s fifth, is a surprisingly tuneful deconstruction of themes as varied as cancer (Waiting on My Horrible Warning), the modern workplace (“singer” Matt Korvette is an insurance adjuster) and male assholery that swings between scary and hilarious.
  6. DIY Magazine
    Feb 24, 2017
    80
    Why Love Now truly comes to life when the band uses their punishing sound to explore the absurdity of modern masculinity.
  7. Spin
    Feb 24, 2017
    80
    Why Love Now is reserved in its sonic experimentation. But for a band as sharp and capable as this one, that’s not really a problem. Beneath the acerbic jokes, Korvette is a humane and considerate writer and performer.
  8. The Guardian
    Feb 23, 2017
    80
    His band’s eardrum-perforating din isn’t for the faint-hearted, but is a lot of fun and delivers some uncomfortable home truths.
  9. Clash Music
    Feb 23, 2017
    80
    Why Love Now is a brash ballache of an album that will make you hate yourself as much as it makes you hate the world. Rest assured lads, the bar is now slightly higher than it was a week ago.
  10. The Quietus
    Feb 16, 2017
    80
    Why Love Now may be their second album on Sub Pop, but there has been no cleaning up or pulling punches. Pissed Jeans are as soiled, sordid and scintillating as ever.
  11. The Skinny
    Feb 3, 2017
    80
    Happily, this follow-up finds them operating at a similarly scintillating capacity, grinding down on the ugliness buried in the mundanity of modern life and crushing it into the wreckage of metal and post-punk.
  12. Pitchfork
    Mar 1, 2017
    79
    Their music has never gone down easier, but their commentary has never hit so uncomfortably hard.
  13. Punknews.org (Staff)
    Mar 2, 2017
    70
    As a whole, Pissed Jeans have put out the best, harshest, yet most listenable album of their career.
  14. Exclaim
    Feb 28, 2017
    70
    Why Love Now shows Pissed Jeans' songwriting reaching new peaks of awareness and focus, all the while remaining true to their brand of dissonant punk.
  15. PopMatters
    Feb 23, 2017
    70
    As a whole, this is a typically unpredictable and manic album. Musically, it couldn’t be accused of being subtle, but it does show a band pushing themselves to see where they can take their sound.
  16. AllMusic
    Feb 23, 2017
    70
    It's easily the meatiest the band has sounded to date, but it doesn't deviate from the punishing, aural miasma that Pissed Jeans have been stewing in since their 2006 debut.
  17. Under The Radar
    Feb 3, 2017
    70
    The best sounding record in Pissed Jeans' catalog. [Jan - Mar 2017, p.66]

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