Albums to watch

The Gathering

Arbouretum

The Gathering

Fourth album from the Baltimore psych-rock quartet

ADM rating[?]

6.6

Label
UK Release date
14/02/2011
  1. 9.0 |   Tiny Mix Tapes

    Devoid of gimmickry or subgenre convention, a diorite slab of lordly riffing inscribed with folkloric spirituality
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  2. 8.0 |   The Line Of Best Fit

    The melodies throughout ‘The Gathering’ are uniformly strong
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  3. 8.0 |   The Guardian

    Heumann has one of the most distinctive voices around, with a unique, heavy-folk feel to his grand, hymnal melodies
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  4. 8.0 |   The Digital Fix

    Heavy Southern-rock riffs meld into screeching melodies in a way that’s both tasteful and exciting
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  5. 8.0 |   Uncut

    Heavier, moodier and better than ever. Print edition only

  6. 8.0 |   Mojo

    Finds the trance-like electric Fairport grooves of previous albums amped-up, down-tuned and distorted into a huge, oceanic swell of chugging noise. Print edition only

  7. 7.0 |   The Quietus

    As a whole the album hangs together slightly less than its predecessors
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  8. 7.0 |   Slant Magazine

    A revitalizing roll in the dirt, particularly for listeners put off by hard rock that either forays too far into other genres or is too polished by spit-shined production
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  9. 7.0 |   Blurt

    Easily some of the best work with which the ever-prolific indie rock journeyman Heumann has been associated
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  10. 6.0 |   The Observer

    Rough-hewn rock'n'roll that seems custom-made to be the soundtrack for some mythical peyote binge in the desert
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  11. 6.0 |   The Independent

    It's stoner-folk-rock, like a heavier version of Midlake or an opiated Fairport
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  12. 5.0 |   Spin

    Few highs or lows save for intermittent instrumental heroics
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  13. 5.0 |   No Ripcord

    Although at it's best The Gathering is an immersive throwback to a bygone age, considering there are already many records that do this sort of thing much more consistently, it's difficult to recommend
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  14. 4.9 |   Pitchfork

    Arbouretum were once a very good folk-rock outfit; they might want to consider calming down, or unplugging
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  15. 4.0 |   Bowlegs

    So dense and plodding is the music at times, that it gets mired in a singular pace, deviating from slow to slower occasionally in an attempt to mix things up
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