Shane Told's lyrics cut deep as usual but his vocals have too many treatments applied to it here and come off over-produced. If you're looking for vintage Silverstein though, "Mirror Box" has you covered. It gets a bit too poppy later on with "Cut and Run" and "The Afterglow" but by that time you know what you got yourself into. A nostalgic trip that should be enjoyed for what it is--a look back at the salad days.

It's such a musically bare record. "Into The Earth" is the only song that feels like a rock song and it's also very soft and drab. So many songs riff off the same synth beats that HYMNS end up being a contemplative session that puts you to sleep as opposed to prodding at your mind.

Tend No Wounds might not be the best starting point for new listeners (that'd be Dial or Taste the Sin), but it should tide over fanboys until the next full-length.

Fans will be glad to hear the new material and to know that ST is more than just a nostalgia act. This album, like the last, is rock solid.

This album and The Party’s Over share many of the same problems that the band can't seem to shake off. Whether you were fan of Public Enemy, Cypress Hill or Rage Against The Machine first I think you’ll agree that this whole project just comes off as clumsy.

With EP2 having a three-month buffer after the first, we've had time to get used to fact that the Pixies are back in full force. Plus, these four songs are stronger than the first four.

It’s not that The Black Album is a very bad album, just that it feels part of a larger calculus that’s so carefully planned out that it lacks any of the artistic spontaneity that their first two albums had, which is exactly what the band’s been missing ever since Pinkerton.

Most of the jams offered come off like this: wasteful and undesirable with heavy riffs, no melody and heavy double-kicking that all combine into an incoherent mess.

If you stack this up against all the Pixies' previous output, it leaves a sour taste. But if you judge it simply on its own merits, it's a not-half-bad set of somewhat generic indie rock.

Reyes who sounds even better than he did on Jealous Again, his voice deeper, richer, and stronger but still with that manic surfer edge. But, he seems to constantly be trying to squeeze into these songs.