Wackiness.org Reviews Archive § Music

Hail to the Thief is Radiohead's sixth major studio album. It's a mixture of much of their previous work, leaning more towards their later work. It’s less guitar rock than Pablo Honey and The Bends, yet it’s not as heavily experimental as Amnesiac. It’s got a great lead track in "2+2=5", which can really rock at times but it also has a softer side, reminiscent of "Paranoid Android". It continues on strong with more songs that can easily remind you of other old songs - not to say they are simply trying to repeat the success of the older songs, but it’s simply Radiohead. After a while, some songs are bound to sound similar. "Sail to the Moon" reminds me of "Pyramid Song." Even though I really like most every song on this CD, it seems to go to sleep in the middle. Maybe too many slow, mellow songs, or maybe it’s just me. I really like the end of the CD, though. "A Punch-up at a Wedding" picks things up nicely and is followed by "Myxomatosis" which really gets you going. "Scatterbrain" slows it back down a little, but then it finishes very strongly with "Wolf at the Door", which seems to be Radiohead's take of rap. They nailed it, whatever it is. A great CD, with a huge variety of music. Very well put together; yet another impressive effort from an amazing band.

Rating

88/100

Reviewer

Andrew Vavoulis

Published

December 02, 2003