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10.0
70454
10.0 |
The Guardian
Menacing but surprisingly melodic
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10.0
70471
10.0 |
The Line Of Best Fit
This is Sunn O))) at their most playful, and Scott at his most enjoyable
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-
10.0
70518
10.0 |
God Is In The TV
All bases are covered on this, the hugest, most monolithic album of 2014
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10.0
70541
10.0 |
A.V. Club
An ominous five-track behemoth that’s experimental in its instrumentation—because there will never be enough overdubs of bullwhip-cracking in this world—but structured in its songwriting approach
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9.5
70669
9.5 |
The 405
It is a monumental record for two extraordinary artists who understand the darkness of the human condition.
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9.0
70523
9.0 |
Loud And Quiet
The more you pry open the guts of this record and stick your head in amongst the bloody entrails, the more of a marvel you realise it is
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9.0
70624
9.0 |
Tiny Mix Tapes
An object-lesson in endurance, not of time but of pain, confusion, horror, and disgust. It seems to provoke denial of itself, the design and content merging into a single mass
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9.0
70410
9.0 |
Crack
Wonderful, head-razing stuff
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9.0
70403
9.0 |
Drowned In Sound
Out of all the stellar releases in 2014, this collaboration is the one which is most likely to stay with us all
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8.5
70595
8.5 |
Under The Radar
This is more than an album—this is an exemplar of contemporary boundary-pushing art to be consumed slowly and patiently
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8.0
70587
8.0 |
Exclaim
Do you remember when music actually used to be about something? Scott Walker and Sunn O))) do
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8.0
70510
8.0 |
NME
It operates at the widest reaches of pop and metal – an album that, on paper, you might approach with caution, but one that's cleverly pitched, constantly engaging and, finally, triumphant. Play it very loud
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8.0
70806
8.0 |
No Ripcord
Soused, with its impenetrable construct and heavy ambition, delivers on many fronts, most notable of which is in its thoughtfully composed immensity
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8.0
70401
8.0 |
The Skinny
O’Malley’s guitars are utterly colossal, the feedback alone towers with portent while Walker’s voice is still wracked with perfectly pitched anguish and torment
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8.0
70402
8.0 |
Clash
An uneasy, intuitive, idiosyncratic masterpiece
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-
8.0
70405
8.0 |
musicOMH
The reality of Soused is that, as good as it is, the results of this coming together are perhaps not quite as berserk as might have been imagined
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-
8.0
70407
8.0 |
Mojo
This meeting of worlds is as one would expect: a powerful mix of dramatic, slow moving sound and Walker’s melodies and narratives. Print edition only
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8.0
70408
8.0 |
Q
Soused remains a distinctly perverse pleasure. Print edition only
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8.0
70409
8.0 |
Uncut
Enigmatic, abstract, violent, absurd
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8.0
70451
8.0 |
Fact
There isn’t a moment of filler across its five tracks, with each one of its 50 minutes exploited to full dramatic potential
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8.0
70519
8.0 |
DIY
Few would argue that ‘Doused’ is an enjoyable listen, yet it is indisputable that this is an album which pushes sound in ways that few dare
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-
8.0
70478
8.0 |
The FT
To listen to Soused is to experience the musical equivalent of the delirium tremens
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8.0
70479
8.0 |
The Independent
We’re still in testing avant-rock territory: still wrestling with troubling – sometimes repellent, sometimes bawdy – imagery; still assimilating sounds rarely encountered in rock music
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8.0
70498
8.0 |
The Observer
None of the five songs clocks in at under eight minutes, but their length works to their advantage
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7.4
70603
7.4 |
Pitchfork
It’s good and, at times, completely absorbing, especially when Walker and the amplifiers seem to be fighting on the same side of a great battle. Soused is compelling, almost inherently so, but it’s not a classic
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7.0
70612
7.0 |
Earbuddy
While the album isn’t perfect, it shows these two forces pushing themselves into some uncharted musical territory
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-
7.0
70842
7.0 |
Rolling Stone
This teaming of a gifted poet and bruising metalheads is like Lou Reed and Metallica's Lulu – but about half as long, and about twice as heavy
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7.0
70404
7.0 |
Slant Magazine
Another album which, if not exactly pleasant to listen to, is at least experimentally interesting, continuing Walker's aggressive program of abrasive sonic assaults
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-
6.0
70406
6.0 |
The List
While, on paper, these two wielders of the dark flame complement each other perfectly, this is at times an awkward pairing with Sunn O))) often subsumed into and overwhelmed by Walker’s aesthetic
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-
6.0
70507
6.0 |
PopMatters
There’s simply not enough sonic variation going on here to make Soused nearly as compelling as its respective creators’ past efforts
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-
6.0
70521
6.0 |
The Arts Desk
For Sunn O))), there was more breathing space on their recent collaboration with Ulver than on Soused. For Walker, after Bish Bosch, it’s what has become business as usual
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-
5.8
70636
5.8 |
Consequence Of Sound
It too often fails to be more than the sum of its parts. At times, it even fails to be just the sum, as its two distinct halves each hold themselves back from being their biggest, grandest, and loudest
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-
1.0
70520
1.0 |
Beardfood
Soused is the underground's very own Lou Reed & Metallica's Lulu, a nearly unlistenable album
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