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10.0
137060
10.0 |
The Skinny
Fifth album from the hipster kings is a neat summation of where they've been, while still looking forward
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10.0
137105
10.0 |
Sputnik Music (staff)
They’re no longer on the cusp of greatness – they’ve fully achieved it
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9.6
137049
9.6 |
Northern Transmissions
Ultimately, “Only God Was Above Us” stands as an example to the band’s ability to craft music that is both deeply meaningful and endlessly enjoyable
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9.0
137050
9.0 |
Paste Magazine
Ezra Koenig, Chris Baio and Chris Tomson take all the right risks to deliver a superb return to form on their awaited fifth album
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9.0
137057
9.0 |
Spectrum Culture
Frankly, every song on Only God Was Above Us is worth waxing rhapsodic about. None of these songs feel dispensable, or feel like any other song on the record. Yet, it still feels like a cohesive collection of songs, its peaks and valleys carefully planned.
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9.0
137059
9.0 |
God Is In The TV
There are few things so good that you’re unsure whether to laugh or cry. But Only God Was Above Us is absolutely one of those things. An astounding piece of work
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9.0
137026
9.0 |
DIY
Their most accomplished album yet
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9.0
137045
9.0 |
All Music
Only God Was Above Us isn't just a great album in its own right - it's one that enriches the understanding of Vampire Weekend's entire history
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9.0
137093
9.0 |
Under The Radar
There’s something strangely comforting about a band who can create something so fresh well into their second decade, and who can also, after all these years, still make an ascending major scale sound so elegant
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9.0
137362
9.0 |
Uncut
It would all be so much showing-off if the narrative ache Koenig displays wasn't so palpable, and the craft wasn't so meticulous. Print edition only
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8.6
137066
8.6 |
Pitchfork
On their masterfully knotty fifth album, Vampire Weekend go on a self-mythological journey into old sounds, old haunts, and old cities to find something new within
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8.6
137047
8.6 |
Beats Per Minute
Feels in many ways the kind of album we always knew the band had in them to make
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8.0
137039
8.0 |
The Irish Times
Album is boiling with ideas from the combined creative efforts of Ezra Koenig, Chris Baio and Chris Tomson
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8.0
137042
8.0 |
The Independent
Ezra Koenig gets the original band back together for a record that incorporates the best of their original sound with musings on conflict, life and art
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8.0
137053
8.0 |
NME
Their fifth studio album is a technicolour, sprawling ode to a long-gone, old New York City
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8.0
137070
8.0 |
musicOMH
With layers to unpack and discover, their first album for five years stakes a claim to being their best yet
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8.0
137061
8.0 |
Rolling Stone
Pivoting away from the brighter, jammier aspects of 2019’s Father of the Bride with a decided bent toward experimentation and surprising, often harsh, new textures. The results showcase a band that, nearly two decades in, is willing to issue a challenge to its fans and produce a soundtrack for a reality that is teeming with noise and discord
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8.0
137094
8.0 |
Exclaim
There's just enough stripped-down beauty — like the balladic "Capricorn," or the swooning brass outro of "The Surfer" — that Only God Was Above Us remains emotional as well as academic
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8.0
137098
8.0 |
Clash
Decades on from their first steps as Vampire Weekend, ‘Only God Is Above Us’ is an elegant summation of the band’s journey and strengths – of joy, sincerity and a feeling of believing in and offering calm amongst the chaos
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8.0
137163
8.0 |
Dork
It’s unpredictable, and even a little jarring at times, but it serves to demonstrate the band’s ever-evolving sound; and is a thrilling peek into the musical terrain that they might venture into in the future
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8.0
137363
8.0 |
Mojo
Only God Was Above Us feels like a record made by a band once more comfortable in their skins. Print edition only
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7.5
137369
7.5 |
Spin
All in all, Only God is a classic Vampire Weekend record, for those seeking exactly that
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7.0
137025
7.0 |
Slant Magazine
This is a band magnetically pulled toward the sounds, images, and aesthetic that define them
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7.0
137062
7.0 |
The Line Of Best Fit
Only God Was Above Us defines itself by a heady mix of retrospection and relinquishment to the future – a coming-of-age awareness writ large in previous phases of their career lent further prescience with the passing of each entry in their canon
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