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Jun 9, 2015This album has the feel of a “for us” record, one that rewards the band for making it and decides that it’s okay to create something deeply personal and a little self-indulgent.
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Jun 5, 2015On the surface Of Monsters And Men’s second album is a lush master-class in pop sensibilities and folk storytelling but Beneath The Skin is more than a name. Scratch below that glittering surface and you’ll discover a band that has discovered themselves.
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Jun 4, 2015The lyrics are tighter, more poetic and speak volumes of a band that have something quite specific to express.
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Jun 8, 2015Where their debut album shimmered, this set has a darker edge--and it's better for it. [12 Jun 2015, p.74]
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Aug 13, 2015The follow-up to 2011's My Head is an Animal is just as polished, soothing, and captivating as its chart-topping predecessor.
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UncutAug 6, 2015Beneath The Skin is further proof that the Icelandic music movement is a near-unstoppable force. [Aug-Sep 2015, p.79]
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Jun 30, 2015Many of the songs are sturdy, constructed to support these grand ambitions, but these individual pieces are not as consequential as the big, big picture
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Jun 15, 2015The band hasn't lost its sense of wonder--it's just seeing the world through a more realistic lens.
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Jun 8, 2015Surely someday, Of Monsters and Men, the successful, melodic pop band from Iceland, will actually burrow beneath the skin and reveal genuine depth, but the pleasures of this, their second record, remain mostly on the surface.
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Jun 12, 2015Beneath the Skin is too humdrum to garner any new acolytes.
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Jun 11, 2015They do stick to that formula a bit too rigidly: the first half is uniform in its patterned builds, and back-to-back tracks like Hunger and Wolves Without Teeth aren't very distinguishable. But the band's near-masterful ability to weave pop sensibilities with moodiness still remains.
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Jun 3, 2015Your enjoyment of Of Monsters and Men’s new album may largely hinge on whether you hear their animalistic motifs as gimmicky or as a legitimate narrative vehicle. Regardless, the band has turned in a safe record that doesn’t stray too far from their last offering.
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MojoJun 10, 2015Beneath The Skin becomes a cautionary take if how going for "affecting" can end up just terribly overwrought. [Jul 2015, p.90]
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Jun 3, 2015There’s little going on beneath the skin here and it’s an unfortunate if sadly inevitable fact that other significantly more talented musicians from Iceland will never attain Of Monsters And Men’s levels of popularity.
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Q MagazineJun 3, 2015Functional and festival-friendly, their epic naivety quickly becomes wearing. [Jul 2015, p.111]
Awards & Rankings
User score distribution:
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Positive: 95 out of 113
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Mixed: 6 out of 113
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Negative: 12 out of 113
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Jun 11, 2015
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Jan 4, 2016
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Sep 5, 2019