-
10.0
8128
10.0 |
Daily Telegraph
..a magically bleak, fantastically original record. And, possibly, the first masterpiece of the 2010s
Read Review
-
10.0
8281
10.0 |
Observer Music Monthly
Hidden is one of the most confounding, pretentious and self-consciously intellectual records I've heard in years. It's also one of the most courageous, innovative and rebellious
Read Review
-
10.0
19710
10.0 |
The Guardian
Hidden is not just the most original record to emerge from Britain this year, but the most unfathomable: an immaculate enigma
Read Review
-
9.0
19591
9.0 |
Consequence Of Sound
The sound they’re crafting is as fresh as it comes
Read Review
-
9.0
8266
9.0 |
The Quietus
These New Puritans have resurfaced with a masterpiece. Hidden is a questing, post-everything collage piece that largely eschews guitars in favour of pummelling beats, brooding electronics and the ominous chanting of a children's choir
Read Review
-
9.0
8044
9.0 |
The Fly
‘Hidden’ is a bold, ambitious album of carefully crafted chaos, and the first truly great album of 2010
Read Review
-
9.0
7897
9.0 |
NME
Genuinely surprising, beautifully wrought and announces TNP as one of the most powerful artistic forces in Britain today.
Read Review
-
9.0
7593
9.0 |
Clash
Showing clear progression and monumental ambition, TNP have crafted a stark and dense knockout performance
Read Review
-
9.0
7804
9.0 |
Drowned In Sound
In the same way Animal Collective and Grizzly Bear set impossibly high standards early last year, so too it goes in 2010; only this time in the unlikely form of four youngsters from the Thames Estuary
Read Review
-
9.0
8010
9.0 |
musicOMH
This is Muse with a post-punk heart, stamping on the face of prog rock and throwing down the gauntlet to the rest of the decade. Go on, do better than this if you can
Read Review
-
8.2
8761
8.2 |
Beats Per Minute
Despite the band’s penchant for grandiose gestures, the album runs a healthy 43 minutes and doesn’t seem to drag at any points. Overall, this is a bold step forward for the band; I can’t wait to hear where they’ll go next
Read Review
-
8.2
9343
8.2 |
Pitchfork
A strikingly inventive and original rock record. Granted, nothing is ever completely new in pop music, but the album freshly synthesizes older ideas (post-rock textures, no-wave skronk, Steve Reich-influenced phasing) and current trends (dubstep's delay, chart pop's stentorian synth lines, global beats)
Read Review
-
8.0
9460
8.0 |
Eye Weekly
An intriguing glimpse into songwriter Jack Barnett’s demented psyche
Read Review
-
8.0
9781
8.0 |
Tiny Mix Tapes
The glorious insanity of Hidden is something you won't find anywhere else, and what could make a record a more worthwhile listen than that?
Read Review
-
8.0
10722
8.0 |
Bowlegs
The kind of album we’ve always wanted These New Puritans to produce and now it’s here, it seems effortless
Read Review
-
8.0
19818
8.0 |
All Music
Hidden is the sound of an ambitious young band as eager to use every tool at its disposal as it is to avoid studiously doing what's been done before
Read Review
-
8.0
8037
8.0 |
The Times
There are more ideas here than most bands manage in an entire career
Read Review
-
8.0
7830
8.0 |
Q
While fiercely odd, it's frequently electrifying.
Print edition only
-
8.0
7921
8.0 |
Uncut
Difficult to pin down, Hidden is even harder to forget.
Print edition only
-
8.0
7953
8.0 |
The Irish Times
Hidden ’s magic is in the details – a sharpened blade sound effect here, an ominous oboe line there – which creates an often chilling atmosphere
Read Review
-
8.0
8002
8.0 |
Independent on Sunday
...positions TNP as possibly our most intellectually challenging group since British Sea Power
Read Review
-
8.0
8046
8.0 |
God Is In The TV
While not an easy listen, give it some time and an open mind and it is an album you can easily find interest and intrigue in
Read Review
-
8.0
8397
8.0 |
Rave Magazine
Hidden is not a perfect album, but These New Puritans deserve immense praise for breaking from an easy path to deliver a complex and challenging masterpiece
Read Review
-
8.0
8404
8.0 |
The Line Of Best Fit
There’s more than an echo of something tragic and battlefield-esque in this album, and the troubled woodwinds, whirling electro skips and hallucinogenic dancehall echoes that haunt the record make it, like anything progressive, not an easy listen either
Read Review
-
8.0
8451
8.0 |
The Skinny
Pounding, thrumming and pulsing from beginning to end (save for some beautifully sedate arrangements from a brass and woodwind ensemble), Hidden employs bass and percussion like indigenous drums of war
Read Review
-
7.5
19592
7.5 |
A.V. Club
Several instrumental passages provide a nice mood, but Hidden sags when it relents for too long. These New Puritans are still figuring out the right balance, but Hidden remains an impressive step forward
Read Review
-
7.0
10723
7.0 |
Blurt
Taking chances is laudable all by itself. Taking chances and making them pay off like this? That's impressive
Read Review
-
7.0
19590
7.0 |
BBC
It’s not out to please you, but Hidden is well worthy of investigation
Read Review
-
7.0
10028
7.0 |
Spin
It's a chilling thrill
Read Review
-
7.0
9617
7.0 |
PopMatters
Hidden stands as a bracingly original statement from a band entirely too new to have this many good ideas. Come December, it may not make any “best of” lists, but it’s certainly one of the most fascinating albums we’re likely to see this year
Read Review
-
7.0
8116
7.0 |
The Digital Fix
So a brave album then, but not without faults. There are times when tracks reek too much of a rejected score for Assassin's Creed III and where ambition exceeds execution, where the vocals do little beyond sit blandly atop the beats
Read Review
-
5.0
9708
5.0 |
Under The Radar
Despite the consistently grating vocals and an overall lack of cohesion, the beats make it worth a listen
Read Review
-
4.0
8575
4.0 |
State
Don’t believe the hype folks. Hidden, the second album from this lot from Southend-on-Sea in Essex, is nothing more than a bunch of hipsters putting more energy into sounding like an art rock band than actually making of anything of any real substance
Read Review
-