★★★★★
Forget debut and sophomore releases, it's an artist's third album that constitutes make-or-break time. Since When the Angels was the musical component of a failed film project, it's no surprise it sounds and feels very soundtrack-like, with wandering, sad, soulful songs laying side-by-side with both funky and rocky numbers. The cohesion is impressive (how Heroine yields to 850 Commando I don't quite know, but it works)...
- www.hour.ca
2010-11-02
★★★★★
Sound: This is Matt Mays' second studio album, and first with accompanying El Torpedo. The album is amazing start to finish. Each song is crafted brilliantly, and is very easilly excessable by the listener. The progressions in most songs are fairly usual and simple, but Mays' and fellow guitarist Jarrett Murphy's melodies and solos bring another level into play...
- www.ultimate-guitar.com
2009-11-15
★★★★★
Matt Mays, formerly a member of Halifax's best alt-country band, the Guthries, is a fully paid up member of the Wilco/Jayhawks melodic country rock school of music. Mays is a gifted songwriter, he constructs pleasing melodies and writes evocative lyrics. The record sounds fine too, live and lush with plenty of swelling pedal steel and vocal harmonies topped off by his warm and pleasant vocals. Songs like the driving Where Am I Going...
- music.aol.com
2008-08-28
★★★★★
Matt Mays was originally in the Guthries, a roots-cum-alt.country band that enjoyed some success with a few albums. On this, his sophomore solo album, the singer has utilized an almost pristine balance -- fusing at times the jagged, loud garage rock of Neil Young into a tighter, more polished Tom Petty format. This gorgeous combination makes it easily one of the more impressive albums you'll hear, exemplified to a T on the rollicking opener, "Stand Down at Sundown...
- music.aol.com
2008-08-28