Albums to watch

Smote Reverser

Oh Sees

Smote Reverser

Twentieth album of psyched-out garage rock from the San Francisco band and second under the abbreviated moniker

ADM rating[?]

7.3

Label
Castle Face
UK Release date
17/08/2018
US Release date
17/08/2018
  1. 9.0 |   All Music

    Smote Reverser is undeniably an Oh Sees record, with all 20 years of the band's history coming through every note played and sung, but it feels like a huge step into something new that's sure to be just as exciting and unpredictable
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  2. 8.5 |   Paste Magazine

    It’s cosmic, it’s mythic, it’s sprawling, it’s so acid-jazz-meets prog-rock that the garage-psych label seems like a flaccid insult at this point
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  3. 8.3 |   A.V. Club

    The longer Oh Sees go, the more wicked they get
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  4. 8.0 |   Uncut

    This is mature work. It's confident in what it is - and as seems likely, what it will turn into next. Print edition only

  5. 8.0 |   Q

    A career-best mind-melter. Print edition only

  6. 8.0 |   Record Collector

    There’s enough going on in the grooves of Smote Reverser to satisfy your psych and/or prog urges for the foreseeable future, let alone in the few months it’ll take Dwyer to follow it up

  7. 8.0 |   The Line Of Best Fit

    Less thematic or cohesive than other records, Smote Reverser is, quite deliberately, a record that sounds like an endless stream-of-consciousness, with no underlying nucleus that pulls it all together
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  8. 8.0 |   The Arts Desk

    Subtlety is boring; this is an album that sets out to defeat you
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  9. 8.0 |   Clash

    ‘Smote Receiver’ is what Can, Deep Purple or King Crimson would sound like if they came out 2018. Loud, hypnotic, vitriolic solos, mordant melodies with biting lyrics
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  10. 8.0 |   Drowned In Sound

    It's plain difficult to not be impressed by this insanely talented band yet again
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  11. 8.0 |   The Skinny

    Sprawling, magnificent, dangerous and fantastical; like so many great pieces of work it leaves you wanting more
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  12. 7.6 |   Earbuddy

    Don't let that cover art fool you, Oh Sees aren't going metal, but they are jamming out
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  13. 7.6 |   Pitchfork

    The California group remain deliriously unhinged but indulge in prog-metal fantasies
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  14. 7.0 |   Spectrum Culture

    It’s too early to tell if Oh Sees are taking a new, more expansive path, or if this album simply marks their latest laboratory work
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  15. 7.0 |   Rolling Stone

    Swerves its own weird way through Sixties and Seventies rock
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  16. 6.5 |   The 405

    By no means does Smote Reverser signal a downward trajectory for Oh Sees. It’s just a reminder of how much better they are when working at their full potential
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  17. 6.3 |   Gig Soup

    Few of the riffs grab you, less stands out, but the effort put in makes for something to admire
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  18. 6.0 |   NME

    Strip away the excessive noodling and ‘Smote Reverser’ could be up there as one of Dwyer’s best in recent years. As it is, it’s good, but not as consistently great as we’ve come to expect from him
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  19. 6.0 |   Loud And Quiet

    Oh Sees are a well-oiled machine, but that machine looks more like a conveyor belt with each release
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  20. 6.0 |   Mojo

    When Dwyer steeps the prog in garage frenzy, the pot boils. Print edition only

  21. 5.0 |   The Quietus

    Oh Sees elect to go for feel over form. The result is some tiresome jamming
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