★★★★★
Tweet Bitter and Sweet The album begins with one of the most famous opening lines in history: "It was the best of times / It was the worst of times." With that opener and the title Bitter Rivals, one might think Sleigh Bell's new album is a discussion of the rivalry between Charles Darnay and Sydney Carton in the classic A Tale of Two Cities. It's not...
- www.mxdwn.com
2013-10-27
★★★★★
The third album from Sleigh Bells gets rolling in the same vein as their previous releases - uncompromisingly loud. The opening title-track 'Bitter Rivals' exemplifies everything that saw the Brookyn-based duo shoot to noise-pop stardom: crunchy guitars and hectic digital drums from Derek Miller paired with Alexis Krauss' saccharine vocals.
However, as the album plays on it's obvious Krauss' voice should be sprinkled lightly...
- www.undertheradar.co.nz
2013-11-11
★★★★★
How do synth-punk duo Sleigh Bells get their creative juices flowing? My bet was driving around New York jamming out '80s hard rock and making fun of passersby. As it was, I was wrong; turns out they like to ? wait for it ? box. "Boxing has become a really regular part of our routine," singer Alexis Krauss said, regarding the recording process for their third full-length album, Bitter Rivals...
- www.punknews.org
2013-10-24
★★★★★
Bitter Rivals feel like the empowering soundtrack for a sweaty session of boxing in the gym (a pastime Krauss has taken up.) But all the various disses and fighting words that Krauss flings out are no substitute for the sensory-overload brashness of those first two records, which here gets sugared up and watered down in equal measure. Sleigh Bells' biggest hurdle has always been making sure their genre-mashed sound feels like a signature rather than a formula...
- www.thevine.com.au
2013-10-16
★★★★★
Three albums within the space of four years is pretty prolific by modern standards, and that's what Sleigh Bells have achieved by releasing Bitter Rivals before the end of 2013. The rapid turnaround hasn't necessarily come at the cost of sonic progression - second album Reign Of Terror marked a record that was both sonically and emotionally heavier than their breakout debut, Treats, so there's potential for Bitter Rivals to add further refinements to the band's sound...
- drownedinsound.com
2013-10-16
★★★★★
It took roughly three albums to get there, but Sleigh Bells' bombastic piss-n'-vinegar metal-pop has finally devolved into gimmickry. The band's debut, Treats, remains a master class on how to produce music that's a lot more dangerous sounding than it really is (not to mention a hell of a lot of fun to listen to), but the wheels started to come off on last year's Reign of Terror, a highly polished but merely passable recycle job of Treats's stronger points...
- www.slantmagazine.com
2013-10-16
★★★★★
Sleigh Bells' Alexis Krauss and Derek Miller got into boxing while making this album, and the Brooklyn duo would wake, train and eat together before hitting the studio to bash out their trademark noise-pop bangers. Coming over all Kick-Ass has paid off, because 'Bitter Rivals' is their toughest and most focused work yet. It's also their poppiest, which is very much a good thing...
- www.nme.com
2013-10-11
★★★★★
"You are my bitter rival/And I need you for survival" sings Sleigh Bells frontwoman Alexis Krauss on Bitter Rivals' opening and title track--a sentiment that applies well to Sleigh Bells in general, when you think about it. The New York noisemongers' strength has always been in the tensions and conflicts that pull at every song until it's taut and quivering: Krauss' outgoing performances versus guitar-wielding Derek Miller's behind-sunglasses reticence...
- www.undertheradarmag.com
2013-10-11
★★★★★
There's something terrifying about the third album by the Brooklyn boy-girl duo Sleigh Bells. Everything sounds louder, for one, which is no small feat for a band that has plenty of experience making ears ring. The amplification is most discernible in the stadium-size synthesizer outbursts, chopped up beats and buzzing guitar chords of songs such as "Sing Like a Wire" and "Sugarcane...
- www.sfgate.com
2013-10-11
Loading...
