Razorlight (album)

Critical reception

Razorlight received generally mixed reviews from music critics. At Metacritic, which assigns a normalized rating out of 100 to reviews from mainstream critics, the album received an average score of 60, based on 18 reviews.

Paul Stokes of NME gave high praise to the album's production and lyrics for being larger than life and containing sincere romantic tales that come after various parties, concluding that "It's [also] a record that sees Razorlight comfortably leap the "difficult second album" trap. Now that calls for a party." MacKenzie Wilson of AllMusic praised the band's collaboration with producer Chris Thomas of being able to craft different genres into a unique sound with sharp musicianship that helps set them apart from their contemporaries, saying that "They make honest indie rock for those looking for a solid, good song. There's no frills, no fancy production, just the purity of these songs." Doug Kamin of ARTISTdirect found the album's tight and polished sheen oft-putting and its latter tracks lacking replay value but praised the first four tracks for their strong production and energetic tone, concluding that "this is ultimately going to age very well for Razorlight as they become arena rock gods in the years to come."

Dan Wale of Drowned in Sound felt disappointed with the album, saying that some decent tracks can't deviate listeners away from the band's attempt at maturity that comes across more sophomoric in its new sound, saying that "This is not a great album - that needs to be said while the dust is still settling. Though it’s not bad, we have to disperse such a thick smokescreen before we can even start to ascertain its worth - any reward has already been bled out in the disparity between expectation and reality." John Murphy of MusicOMH said that despite Björn Ågren's guitar work saving Johnny Borrell's subpar tales of romance and rock star glory, the album reveals poor musicianship and retreads from their debut album, saying that "It’s not so much that much of Razorlight is bad exactly, it’s just very ordinary. In deciding to ditch their more spiky side and go all out for commercial glory, the band have lost sight of what made them special in the first place." Brian Hiatt of Rolling Stone admired the band's basic three instrument formula to deliver catchy pop rock tracks but felt that "the overall feel still falls somewhere between sterile and silly." Liz Colville of Stylus Magazine panned the album for recycling the same formula and influences found in the band's debut effort and delivering it under a studio polish that feels more self-satisfied than true artistic growth, saying that, "[T]he solipsism and trite accounts of benders from the first album are still there, but the music has gone exceedingly soft."

Track listing

All lyrics written by Johnny Borrell, unless otherwise noted.

Singles

Credits