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9.0
64510
9.0 |
The Line Of Best Fit
If Do To The Beast is The Afghan Whigs’ final statement, it is a towering one
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8.3
64888
8.3 |
Paste Magazine
A combustible album that doesn’t seek to recapture the band’s old spark so much as light a new one
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8.0
64511
8.0 |
The Skinny
Blows the dust off 16 years with a swaggering barroom rocker and Greg Dulli’s clear statement of intent: “If they’ve seen it all, show ‘em something new”
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8.0
64514
8.0 |
Q
Soul-grunge cult heroes make a classy return. Print edition only
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8.0
64515
8.0 |
Mojo
The deep soulfulness that always set Afghan Wigs apart from the pack was no mirage. Print edition only
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8.0
64574
8.0 |
The Irish Times
An invigorating work from a reinvigorated band
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8.0
64577
8.0 |
The Guardian
Orchestral strings and Motown drum beats abound, while frontman Greg Dulli is not averse to an occasional falsetto or Prince-like wailing
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8.0
64581
8.0 |
musicOMH
Dulli is a man still capable of the best in sweat-soaked R&B flavoured rock ‘n’ roll, but he now has a range of subtler, more graceful manoeuvres too
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8.0
64609
8.0 |
Drowned In Sound
There isn’t a bad album in the Whigs / Twilight Singers / Gutter Twins back-catalogue but Do to the Beast manages to be at once more varied in style and more consistent in quality than any of its predecessors
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8.0
64611
8.0 |
PopMatters
Perhaps it’s Curley’s presence or the expectations attached to the Afghan Whigs name or the semi-regular reunion shows that this lineup has been playing since 2011, but something’s dragged Dulli back to the fierce rock and soul of his best work
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8.0
64646
8.0 |
NME
A brutal and beauteous slither from the grave
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8.0
64703
8.0 |
The Music
It’s an emotional ride
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7.6
64653
7.6 |
Pitchfork
Do to the Beast may not always sound like an Afghan Whigs album, but it operates like one, scavenging the darker corners of pop history to create something personal, vital, and urgent
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7.5
64811
7.5 |
Beardfood
A very welcome return that makes hungry for more
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7.0
64660
7.0 |
The 405
They've managed to do themselves justice, and that should be enough not only to please their existing fans, but to win a few new ones too
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7.0
64931
7.0 |
FasterLouder
A record that sounds utterly contemporary, a modern rock album in the truest sense that embraces technology and subtle influences from R&B and electronica
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7.0
67562
7.0 |
Sputnik Music (staff)
The Afghan Whigs look just as unstoppable as they did in their prime
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7.0
64513
7.0 |
Uncut
Magnificent, and often conceptual work
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6.7
64705
6.7 |
Earbuddy
The heaviness of Do To The Beast comes with its strengths and weaknesses. Some of these songs feel as if they deserve nimbler performances than they get
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6.0
64741
6.0 |
Loud And Quiet
The album isn’t for everyone but the Whigs never pretended to build their modus operandi on refinement
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6.0
64601
6.0 |
The Observer
The Whigs' highly developed sense of slink comes in regular flashes, as booty-shaking as ever
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6.0
64621
6.0 |
All Music
The final product is intelligent and often fascinating, but it doesn't deliver like the Afghan Whigs do at their best, and ultimately comes off as a brave but somewhat unsatisfying experiment
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6.0
64590
6.0 |
Evening Standard
The intensity of Dulli’s vocals throughout convinces that he’s not doing this for the money. It’s a welcome comeback
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6.0
64596
6.0 |
The Independent
The oppressive weight of the arrangements, freighted with heavy rock guitars and declamatory drums, occasionally fattened by dramatic strings, makes them hard to engage with on a personal level
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6.0
65295
6.0 |
Rolling Stone
The stylishly sleazy intensity is still there on their first record since 1998's excellent 1965, only with a wider palette
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6.0
65383
6.0 |
Under The Radar
The longer you spend with Do to the Beast the more it resembles how the next Twilight Singers album would have sounded, only repackaged under the more lucrative Afghan Whigs brand
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5.8
64935
5.8 |
Pretty Much Amazing
It still sounds like The Afghan Whigs, but it sounds more like re-workings of b-sides that may have shined in the sun of another decade
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5.8
64569
5.8 |
Consequence Of Sound
Wants for something that maybe The Afghan Whigs no longer have or care to offer: that brazen, reckless counterpunch that Rick McCollum’s leads or even Dulli’s patented shout-sing always brought to balance out the more soulful, pensive part of the band’s dynamic
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5.0
64655
5.0 |
A.V. Club
Whether McCollum’s absence is a contributing factor or just a symptom of Do To The Beast’s overwhelming dullness, one thing’s for certain: The least boring band in the world awoke from its slumber just to deliver a snoozer
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4.0
64512
4.0 |
The Arts Desk
Do to the Beast is flared-trousered, rawk music repackaged for a 21st-century indie/alt rock audience...Approach with caution
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4.0
64598
4.0 |
The FT
The frontman’s scenery-chewing efforts can’t salvage a weak set of songs
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