Albums to watch

It Won't Be Like This

The Twilight Sad

It Won't Be Like This

Fifth studio album from the Scottish indie rock outfit is produced by guitarist Andy MacFarlane

ADM rating[?]

8.1

Label
Rock Action
UK Release date
18/01/2019
US Release date
18/01/2019
  1. 10.0 |   The Skinny

    This time out they're sleeker and sharper than before. The Twilight Sad won't be like this all the time. If they were, though, that wouldn't be a problem
    Read Review

  2. 10.0 |   Drowned In Sound

    It’s a determined, seductive experience, brimming with belief and completely torching everything they’ve done before. As of now, The Twilight Sad are basically untouchable
    Read Review

  3. 9.5 |   The Line Of Best Fit

    IWBLTATT is a laser guided arrow to the heart; an enveloping noise that chips away at you over time. On countless occasions since living with this record I’ve found myself haunted by a repeated phrase, only to be exorcised on repeated listens
    Read Review

  4. 9.0 |   Under The Radar

    The future is now. The future is The Twilight Sad. You read it here first
    Read Review

  5. 9.0 |   PopMatters

    It feels more important than a collection of songs on a spinning disc. It's a balm, a hand to hold and a kick up the arse. It's the album the Twilight Sad have always been destined to make, and it's the album fans have always known they would make
    Read Review

  6. 9.0 |   musicOMH

    It seems unfair to describe this as The Twilight Sad’s masterpiece as, truth be told, they haven’t made a bad record in their career – but this certainly feels like a ‘moment’, the time where they step up and deliver a truly special album
    Read Review

  7. 8.5 |   The 405

    The Twilight Sad continue to plough the same furrow as on their previous albums, yet with a little more urgency, consistency and richness that some of their earlier work lacked
    Read Review

  8. 8.2 |   Paste Magazine

    Guitarist/producer Andy MacFarlane twists up the volume and pushes the tempos into overdrive, creating a dizzying and urgent tone that barely ever lets up
    Read Review

  9. 8.0 |   DIY

    Unlike the swirling, guitar-led crash of most of the band’s catalogue, their fifth album is anchored by thudding, motorik beats that create a dancier base on which James exorcises his deepest demons, and it’s an even more intense form of communication
    Read Review

  10. 8.0 |   All Music

    It Won't Be Like This All the Time proves the Twilight Sad are making some of their most vital music more than a decade into their career
    Read Review

  11. 8.0 |   Clash

    A wonderful album that unleashes the group's potent power
    Read Review

  12. 8.0 |   The Arts Desk

    Scottish miserabilists remind you why you fell for them in the first place
    Read Review

  13. 8.0 |   The Guardian

    Epic, impassioned post-punk
    Read Review

  14. 8.0 |   NME

    Rather than being owned by their demons, The Twilight Sad have created an 11-track exorcism to master them. It’s a full-bodied and inescapable mood-piece, and a visceral account of their victory in the fight to exist. We should feel grateful to have them
    Read Review

  15. 8.0 |   God Is In The TV

    It’s a loving act of homage to early eighties gothic romanticism, that in places also recalls Movement era New Order and even the Cocteau Twins of Blue Bell Knoll or Garlands
    Read Review

  16. 8.0 |   Loud And Quiet

    Few bands of the Twilight Sad’s generation have even made it to album five, let alone grown with each release, but ‘It Won/t Be Like This All The Time’ is the sound of a band in rude health
    Read Review

  17. 8.0 |   The Irish Times

    The results are 11 cracking tunes that yet again prove that when it comes to alternative music, Scotland still spectacularly punches well above its weight. The Twilight Sad merit a place in the upper echelons in the pantheon of Scottish pop
    Read Review

  18. 8.0 |   Q

    While these tracks have definitely been soaked in the dour euphoria that The Cure specialise in, The Twilight Sad are very much their own band. Print edition only

  19. 7.6 |   Gig Soup

    The Scottish outfit's first album in over four years is a blistering collection of their brand of cynicism, while offering a new sense of optimism in all the chaos
    Read Review

  20. 7.5 |   Spectrum Culture

    A deeply inventive album from a deeply engaging, entertaining and original band
    Read Review

  21. 7.0 |   Uncut

    Violence, guilt, betrayal and despair assail singer-lyricist James Graham's protagonists, while Andy MacFarlane marshals something miasmic, sometimes glistening synth glides and doleful guitars, suggesting Johnny Marr's wilder Smiths experiments. Print edition only

  22. 7.0 |   The Music

    A ruggedly beautiful sound
    Read Review

  23. 7.0 |   Crack

    It’s as gloriously miserable as it sounds
    Read Review

  24. 7.0 |   Earbuddy

    Isn’t the record you knew “they always had in them” because it’s just as good as their previous work
    Read Review

  25. 6.0 |   Mojo

    Their initial torrid confluence of My Bloody Valentine and Joy Division here shapeshifts more towards "synth-assisted stadium nu-gaze," with odd Kraut-y hints of early Simple Minds, and frequent echoes of their new found patron. Print edition only


blog comments powered by Disqus

Watch it

Roll over video for more options

Hear it

Latest Reviews

More reviews