Criminal (album)

Criminal
Studio album by
The Soft Moon
ReleasedFebruary 2, 2018 (2018-02-02)
GenreIndustrial[1]
Length39:39
LabelSacred Bones
Producer
  • Luis Vasquez
  • Maurizio Baggio
The Soft Moon chronology
Deeper
(2015) 		Criminal
(2018) 		Exister
(2022)
Professional ratings
Aggregate scores
SourceRating
Metacritic78/100[2]
Review scores
SourceRating
The 4058/10[3]
AllMusic[4]
The A.V. ClubB[5]
Crack Magazine7/10[6]
DIY[7]
Drowned in Sound8/10[8]
Exclaim!8/10[9]
The Line of Best Fit8/10[10]
Pitchfork7.2/10[11]
PopMatters7/10[12]

Criminal is the fourth studio album by American post-punk band the Soft Moon. It was released on February 2, 2018 by Sacred Bones Records.

Critical reception

Criminal was met with "generally favorable" reviews from critics. At Metacritic, which assigns a weighted average rating out of 100 to reviews from mainstream publications, this release received an average score of 78, based on 10 reviews.[2] Aggregator Album of the Year gave the release a 76 out of 100 based on a critical consensus of 14 reviews.[13]

Sean O'Neal from The A.V. Club said the album "evokes all of those classic, angry goth teen touchstones. And while that poetry-journal melodrama grows a tad exhausting by album’s end, there are plenty of deliciously bitter pleasures here for anyone who similarly loves brooding in that blacked-out, candlelit bedroom of the mind."[12] Francisco Gonçalves Silva from The 405 explained "Despite the album adopting a confessional structure, the characteristic elements of The Soft Moon’s aggression remains. And it all sounds dirtier, gritter and angrier than ever."[3]

Track listing

No.TitleLength
1."Burn"3:20
2."Choke"3:09
3."Give Something"4:30
4."Like a Father"4:40
5."The Pain"4:36
6."It Kills"4:17
7."Ill"2:35
8."Young"3:50
9."Born Into This"3:49
10."Criminal"4:53

Personnel

Credits adapted from AllMusic website.[4]

  • Luis Vasquez – composition, production, engineering, mastering, mixing
  • Maurizio Baggio – composition, arrangement, production, engineering, mastering, mixing
  • Marion Costentin – photography

References

  1. ^ Freedman, Max (February 2, 2018). "The Soft Moon - Criminal". DIY. Retrieved February 22, 2019.
  2. ^ a b "Metacritic Review". Metacritic.com. Retrieved May 26, 2018.
  3. ^ a b Gonçalves Silva, Francisco (February 6, 2018). "Criminal is a journey of powerful catharsis for The Soft Moon". The 405. Archived from the original on February 6, 2018. Retrieved September 13, 2020.
  4. ^ a b Phares, Heather. "AllMusic Review". AllMusic. Retrieved May 26, 2018.
  5. ^ O'Neal, Sean (February 2, 2018). "Rhye, AWOLNATION, The Soft Moon, and other albums to know about this week". The A.V. Club. Retrieved September 13, 2020.
  6. ^ Peirson-Hagger, Ellen. "Crack Magazine Review". Crack Magazine. Retrieved September 13, 2020.
  7. ^ Freedman, Max. "DIY Magazine Review". DIY. Retrieved September 13, 2020.
  8. ^ Turner-Heffer, Adam (February 6, 2018). "Drowned in Sound Review". Drownedinsound.com. Archived from the original on May 26, 2018. Retrieved May 26, 2018.
  9. ^ Yuyitung, Matt (January 30, 2018). "Exclaim! Review". Exclaim!. Retrieved September 13, 2020.
  10. ^ Westley, Nathan (February 7, 2018). "The Line of Best Fit Review". Thelineofbestfit.com. Retrieved May 26, 2018.
  11. ^ Geffen, Sasha (February 7, 2018). "Pitchfork Review". Pitchfork. Retrieved September 13, 2020.
  12. ^ a b Whitelock, Ed (March 9, 2018). "PopMatters Review". Popmatters.com. Retrieved May 26, 2018.
  13. ^ "Album of the Year Review". Album of the Year. Retrieved September 13, 2020.