Wall Of Arms
by The Maccabees
  • Record Label: Fiction
  • Release Date: May 4, 2009
Metascore
75

Generally favorable reviews - based on 10 Critic Reviews

Critic score distribution:
  1. Positive: 7 out of 10
  2. Mixed: 3 out of 10
  3. Negative: 0 out of 10
  1. Drowned In Sound
    70
    Really, what you’re left with is an accomplished album, delivered with passion and feeling, that’s easy to acknowledge as pretty good--to admire, even--but hard to be seriously moved by.
  2. musicOMH.com
    90
    Wall Of Arms is an expansive, confident second album that takes The Maccabees from indie also-rans to genuine contenders.
  3. Observer Music Monthly
    80
    Wall of Arms is the meticulously evolved sound of a band aiming to bid to breathe life into British indie.
  5. The Guardian
    80
    With this record the Maccabees join the Horrors and Jack Peñate as supposedly "landfill indie" acts who've come back fighting with far superior second efforts.
  6. New Musical Express (NME)
    80
    Wall Of Arms sounds mostly effortless and unstudied.
  7. No Ripcord
    50
    Each track in its own right has nothing inherently wrong with it, but put eleven of them together and it’s all a little one-dimensional.
  8. Dot Music
    80
    Maccabees have not just merely avoided a sophomore goring with Wall Of Arms' bar-raising pop. They have got the crowd firmly back on their side in doing so.
  9. Q Magazine
    60
    It's too easy to mistake them for any number of other bands--Editors, Maximo Park, The Futureheads all spring to mind--but if it's not original, it's still done weell. [Jun 2009, p.125]
    All this publication's reviews
  10. PopMatters
    80
    Wall of Arms is an album that will give more the more time you give it. It’s expansive without being overblown, meticulous without being tedious, and hints at even greater things come album three.
  11. Uncut
    60
    Singer Orlando Weeks' new themes of intimacy and dependence, add emotional scope to a band blossoming from their spindly beginnings into a meaty prospect capable of doing goth XTC, jolly Joy Divisiion, and sword-dancing Strokes. [Jun 2009, p.92]
    All this publication's reviews

User Reviews

All reviews »
User Score
8.5

Universal acclaim- based on 17 Ratings

User score distribution:
  1. Positive: 15 out of 17
  2. Mixed: 1 out of 17
  3. Negative: 1 out of 17
  1. tcjake
    Aug 5, 2013
    9
    While some of these songs are not as youthfully energetic as Colour It In, there are some fantastic tracks that show a different side of TheWhile some of these songs are not as youthfully energetic as Colour It In, there are some fantastic tracks that show a different side of The Maccabees. Out of the songs that strive to be raging rock like Colour, Can You Give It triumphs. With thumping, fuzzy bass, and screaming guitars this song dances between sweet soft verses and rolling choruses. No Kind Words is by far the darkest track The Maccabees have ever done. You can almost feel emptiness in the track with such bare-bones instrumentation until the song descends into dual, crazed guitar lines. The ending track Bag of Bones pt. B may be the greatest song the Maccs have ever done. Stylistically it is nothing like the rest of the tracks on the album, but it accomplishes what a closing song on an album should do. The slow pace this song rolls over, and with interesting guitar work creates a dreamy swirly vibe, and it is something The Maccabees do remarkably well.… Full Review »
  2. AlexF
    May 27, 2009
    9
    An amazing album which incorporates all the good bits the first album by The Maccabees did not have. There are no songs that let down the An amazing album which incorporates all the good bits the first album by The Maccabees did not have. There are no songs that let down the high quality of this album. What a comback by The Maccabees.… Full Review »
  3. MC
    May 23, 2009
    9
    Excellent follow-up to the debut, darker and more accomplished. Less playful than the original (it still has its moments) but overall the Excellent follow-up to the debut, darker and more accomplished. Less playful than the original (it still has its moments) but overall the band seem to have matured and their music has benefited from it.… Full Review »
See all user reviews »