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Stir The Blood
Mixed or average reviews
Based on 11 critic reviews
How did we calculate this?
Based on 6 votes
Read user comments
Rate this album >
Album Info
Label: Island
Release Date: 01 December 2009
Discs: 1 disc
Genre(s): Rock, Alternative
Summary
The third album for the New York City-based rock band was produced by John Hill.
Also By This Artist: The Bravery The Sun And The Moon
Also On The Web: Official Artist Site
What The Critics Said
All critic scores are converted to a 100-point scale. If a critic does not indicate a score, we assign a score based on the general impression given by the text of the review. Learn more...
Boston Globe
The Bravery’s adrenaline-rush, retro-new-wave/punk rock is back with a flourish. The album is a sonic high, but a mixed bag of lyrical ups and downs.
Read Full Review >Entertainment Weekly
Singer Sam Endicott's far more empathetic now that there's a reason behind all that rage.
Read Full Review >All Music Guide
Even on its mellower moments, the Bravery sound more excited about making music on this album than they have since their debut, making Stir the Blood a fine return to form.
Read Full Review >PopMatters
While admittedly failing to match up to their self-titled debut, it makes a convincing case for not writing them off just yet.
Read Full Review >New Musical Express
They’re out of step, out of time, out of place, and have completely gone off on one in their own strange little world; as such, there’s much to admire about The Bravery. Just never go down to Endicott’s basement.
Read Full Review >Alternative Press
With its techno beats, yowling vocals and laughably cliched lyrics, "I Am Your Skin" fumbles at being a love song, while "She's So Bendable" (the band's vision of Lou Reed fronting the Jesus And Mary Chain) is beyond generic. [Jan 2010, p. 92]
The Onion (A.V. Club)
Peppered with aimless, pointless prog-rock, Stir The Blood wants to be fun and affecting, and the band’s failures in the latter regard destroy its ability to manage the former.
Read Full Review >Spin
Their petulantly plagiaristic third album--mired in singer Sam Endicott's uncharismatic Robert Smith–in-a-wind-tunnel moan (imagine that hair)--continues to stuff downtown Gotham streets into predictable, rhyming-dictionary couplets.
Read Full Review >Los Angeles Times
Endicott had a hand in penning the excellent title track from Shakira's new album "She Wolf." Perhaps he can preserve some of that creative spark for his own band's next endeavor.
Read Full Review >Pitchfork
Someone clinically extracts whatever trace of messy humanity made it through the first time the Bravery worked the nu-wave shtick, on their debut; Stir the Blood is a parodoxically bloodless listen.
Read Full Review >What Our Users Said
The average user rating for this album is 8.1 (out of 10) based on 6 User Votes
Note: User votes are NOT included in the Metascore calculation.
