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Rating:
This album is such a drag.
A statement I never thought I would have to make, after defending Radiohead even in the toughest times, after appreciating even a controversial album like Yorke's Eraser... one of the bands I loved the most, ahead of their time since when "Pablo Honey" came out I told my friends: these guys show promise... and I was answered: give it two albums and we won't remember who they are anymore.
"The King of Limbs" beyond the anticipation and the always unavoidable premises when it comes to Radiohead, is a convoluted and pretentious work that perhaps wouldn't even gain credit if it had been recorded by a lesser-known name. A minimalist rehash of the most experimental layers that already appeared in previous works. No semblance of rock sounds, understood as the canonical use of certain instruments and modules; no semblance of emotional and visionary involvement, even though titles and cover are an attempt to cloak the album in unsettling and restless atmospheres.
The lyrics fail to surprise, the arrangements spiral into themselves, and the exploration of sound is absent. And above all, the tracklist lacks the sparks needed to eradicate boredom in the listener.
What I'm saying is... in my collection, I have piles of records that, for most people, sound dull and unbearable; but they were created in times and with purposes that justify an intrinsic soporific effect, where the reasons for their value lie elsewhere. Today, "The King of Limbs" seems an album without a reason to be. Precisely because it doesn't innovate and doesn't evolve, because from artists of the caliber of Yorke and his cohorts, something different was expected, it appears that we could have easily done without it.
In comparison, "In Rainbows" is a monument. And I won't even speak of the comparison with "OK Computer" and "Amnesiac."
Disappointment of 2011, for now.
Tracklist Samples and Videos
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Other reviews
By matto90
"Bloom opens with a dreamlike vision, sustained by unconventional percussion in true Radiohead style."
"Finally, 'Separator' feels like a new beginning, closing the album with a sense of freedom from past weights."
By The Punisher
This 'King of Limbs'... is a faded copy of things we’ve already heard.
No use: everything got lost behind elaborated and skillfully distorted sound-design... but at the same time uninteresting and much less memorable.
By whereismymind
"King Of Limbs is... an exercise in style without spirit."
Listening to this contrived and barren album is a stab.
By vincenzosevi
After far too long, Radiohead are showing themselves for who they truly are, without too many frills.
It is a simple album, not particularly distinctive, but finally it reveals the true essence of the group, that is pop.
By Bert
Impossible to listen to the eight tracks individually. An album to listen to in one go.
This is a hermetic, cryptic album, which will take on different characterizations depending on the listener.
