| | Full Review | Ratings (177) |
Give your Rating |
| 0.0 | quetzal | July 3rd 17 |
Best album so far of 2017, potentially one of the best albums of all time
6 Bumps | Bump |
| 4.0 excellent | MeetMeAtBarItalia | July 2nd 17 |
This record is absolutely fantastic. By bringing more electronics and industrial influences to their already idiosyncratic gospel-tinged post-punk sound, the band increases the urgency of their music and avoids the trap of the sophomore album. I guess the revolutionary, brutal and extremely left-leaning lyrics are an acquired taste, but Algiers' worldview is far from being a fantasy, and Franklin James Fisher's words add necessary context to the darkness and the mayhem happening around them. This feels much more like an album experience than the self-titled, which perhaps had better individual songs, never hesitating to throw a desolate piano-driven song or a somber instrumental interlude in between the monstrous post-punk tracks. I hope this band is here to stay.
6 Bumps | Bump |
| 2.0 poor | butcherboy | July 3rd 17 |
Hey look, Pearl Jam and Public Enemy have mashed all their most annoying aspects into one biteable morsel of shite..
5 Bumps | Bump |
| 4.0 excellent | dihstyle69 | June 29th 17 |
while lyrically, their last album felt more focused and well-writen, on this new project right here, things get wider and bigger and even messier and sparse as a result. the music surrounding it, however, always feels epic, flawless and absolutely commanding and it's hard not to fall in love with the whole experience, even with its shortcomings. 4-
3 Bumps | Bump |
| 0.0 | cosmopazz | July 3rd 17 |
i wonder how many psychiatric wards are looking for people that call an album with a 3.6 average "potentially one of the best albums of all time"
1 Bumps | Bump |
| 3.5 great | Alabaster Jones | June 24th 17 |
The self-titled debut of Algiers did a lot of cool things. It mixed post-industrial with post-punk and gospel music, and was one of the most passionate records released that year. The Underside Of Power sees the quartet embrace the post-industrial side of themselves more than ever while still retaining Franklin Fisher's huge, gospel-influenced voice and some of the post-punk stylings as well ("Death March" in particular sounds very early-80's in this regard). Tracks can even rely on pianos here, like "Mme Rieux" and "Hymn For An Average Man" as well. The things that plagued the debut, however, that being somewhat listless songwriting and falling susceptible to melodramatic bombast, unfortunately do show up here, but just a little less frequently than before. In this sense the band is improving, however slightly that may be, and seeing as how there are some truly great moments here (just listen to the title-track for an example; it may be their best song to date), Algiers are still a band to keep an eye out for.
1 Bumps | Bump |
| 3.6 great | Erwann S. STAFF | January 26th 23 |
Algiers continue with their unique blend of post-punk rhythms, post-industrial Wall-of-Sound mechanism, and gospel-inspired vocal delivery. Unlike their first album, which I couldn't fully get into because of a (self-perceived) lack of memorable anything, this time, they pushed their envelope forward to propose (mostly) great songs with dope aesthetic instead of ok songs with dope aesthetics.
Bump |
| 4.0 excellent | Gene Gol-Jonsson CONTRIBUTOR | September 27th 21 |
Consistently catchy and sonically twisted, albeit whoever writes their lyrics could use a course in creative writing or subtlety or just chill for a moment idk.
Bump |
| 4.5 superb | Annyxtopheles | May 26th 19 |
8.8/10... I'm impressed by how brilliant, creative, versatile, thoughtful and well executed this album is. This is superb.
Bump |
| 4.5 superb | Monheim | February 10th 19 |
One of the few modern post-punk albums that isn't complete trash
Bump |
| 0.0 | Finn Baker | September 25th 17 |
For me, a 2 means "I don't like this album but I totally understand why others do" and that's exactly how I feel about this.
Bump |
| 2.5 average | Epicenter | June 29th 17 |
In short:
Music is mostly awesome
Lyrics are mostly cringy as hell.
Balances out to a pretty even 2.5, probably at around a 2.7, as the music is that good. It almost
makes up for the lyrics.
Pretend that you're far left and Trump is literally Hitler for maximum enjoyment.
Bump |
| 1.0 awful | doofy | March 24th 24 |
| 4.0 excellent | MvdW | February 27th 23 |
| 4.0 excellent | Timmy | January 18th 23 |
| 1.5 very poor | lurxy | June 22nd 22 |
| 4.0 excellent | Henry | January 25th 21 |
| 4.0 excellent | ariich | August 8th 20 |
| 1.5 very poor | Corney | January 27th 20 |
| 3.0 good | Gueero | January 19th 20 |
| 4.5 superb | jebe | January 17th 20 |
| 4.0 excellent | 8genre | January 5th 20 |
| 4.0 excellent | Lanteri | March 26th 19 |
| 3.5 great | chayka | February 12th 19 |
| 4.0 excellent | ARTV | June 23rd 18 |
| 3.0 good | Coast | April 3rd 18 |
| 3.5 great | Nastril | February 28th 18 |
| 4.5 superb | A.R.O. STAFF | February 22nd 18 |
| 4.5 superb | Soupjan | February 21st 18 |
| 4.5 superb | cb123 | February 13th 18 |
| 4.0 excellent | tyler | December 30th 17 |
| 3.5 great | Martvyk | December 30th 17 |
| 4.0 excellent | wazooman | December 25th 17 |
| 4.0 excellent | jdubbs11 | December 12th 17 |
| 4.5 superb | LOE | December 11th 17 |
| 4.0 excellent | NickArk | November 27th 17 |
| 3.5 great | doqtor | November 12th 17 |
| 3.5 great | greg17 | October 10th 17 |
| 3.5 great | Bokonon | September 16th 17 |
| 4.0 excellent | mrfixit | September 11th 17 |
| 4.5 superb | wangz | August 31st 17 |
| 3.5 great | gilly | August 28th 17 |
| 4.0 excellent | Xerian | August 23rd 17 |
| 4.0 excellent | Brandon | August 8th 17 |
| 3.5 great | Mojito | July 28th 17 |
| 3.5 great | jsaf7 | July 27th 17 |
| 4.0 excellent | ckssr1 | July 6th 17 |
| 4.0 excellent | Ebola | July 5th 17 |
| 2.0 poor | anat CONTRIBUTOR | June 30th 17 |
| 4.0 excellent | jtswope | June 30th 17 |
| 4.0 excellent | progsun | June 27th 17 |
| 4.0 excellent | JWT155 | June 26th 17 |
| 4.0 excellent | greg84 EMERITUS | June 25th 17 |
| 4.0 excellent | wg98 | June 23rd 17 |
| 4.0 excellent | JJKeys | June 5th 17 |
| 3.5 great | NBA | May 21st 17 |
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