- Record Label: YABB
- Release Date: Jun 14, 2024
Buy Now
| Buy on |
|
- Critic score
- Publication
- By date
-
Jun 14, 2024One of the Decemberists’ finest albums. Even at this stage of their career, where they can comfortably be described as veterans, Colin Meloy and company still have the power to enchant and inspire – As It Ever Was, So It Will Be Again, indeed.
-
Jun 24, 2024The Decemberists fill the album to overflowing with sharp, catchy songs, Colin Meloy’s idiosyncratic bookishness well-turned for emotional resonance without relinquishing energy or wit
-
Record CollectorJun 14, 2024Their most ambitious to date. Presented as an old-school double album split into four thematic sides, it serves (by design or otherwise) as a thoughtful precis of the band's 20-year history. [Jul 2024, p.105]
-
Jun 13, 2024It’s an album full of songs that are distinct from each other, yet of a piece, with a title that feels like a self-fulfilling prophecy. After a fallow period, one of indie-rock’s most rewarding bands has found its way back, and in better shape than before.
-
Jun 12, 2024The finished work is a smorgasbord of all of their best bits. [Jun 2024, p.34]
-
Jun 12, 2024The Decemberists return better than ever. As It Ever Was, So It Will Be Again is the band’s longest and most rewarding album to date. The Decemberists take the art of the concept album and fill it with as many fantasy tropes as possible, creating a sonic journey that deserves your undivided attention.
-
Jun 12, 2024As such, not much of the sonic territory meandered upon here is particularly new for the band, but they manage to provide highly satisfying renditions of many of the styles they’ve explored over the years. As such, this latest album feels like a rather comfortable, but nonetheless impressive, addition to the canon.
-
Jun 20, 2024It’s more a personal reckoning with their own past: a rummage sale of dusty enthusiasms.
-
Jul 9, 2024Rather than a succinct return to form, As It Ever Was is quite dense, occasionally getting in its own way in trying to do a bit of everything. For that reason, it might not be the record that earns them scads of new listeners, but for longtime fans, there is a lot to love.
-
Jun 27, 2024While this new LP will not convert many new fans, The Decemberists have re-found that comfortable spot between the arcane and the humane. For that, the dedicated followers will be grateful.
-
Classic Rock MagazineJun 21, 2024Climaxes with a haunting 20-minute prog epic complete with a musique concrete middle section. It's by far the most powerful piece of music they've ever made. The rest of the album is a mixed bag. .... But it's the scattered highlights you'll remember. [Summer 2024, p.76]
-
Jun 14, 2024Meloy has his art down to a science, and the Decemberists take their fans through as winding and rewarding a trip as ever, complete with an abundance of twists and turns that suggest that the journey, long as it may be, is the true reward.
-
Jun 20, 2024As It Ever Was, So It Will Be Again, feels more like a collage of sounds and styles than a coherent, considered statement.