Near to the wild heart of life

"Few others do gorgeous distortion like Vancouver's Japandroids. Previous records had a lo-fi garage edginess to them - skittish drums, lyrical yelps, cavalcades of crunch - but Near to the Wild Heart of Life, their third album, is so luxuriously gnarled it roars out of the speakers like the Revenant bear. The duo have nailed the art of the crunching, life-affirming crescendo ... Feelings sound so good cranked up to 11".

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"For the most part, Near to the Wild Heart of Life sticks to the Japandroids M.O., but the end results are less enticing ... Perhaps it's age, experience, a new record label, the inevitable artistic instinct to want to switch things up a little, but whatever the reason, Near to the Wild Heart of Life ultimately lacks the urgency of the band's best music. The tower hasn't collapsed, but it's starting to wobble".

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"Eftertænksomheden gennemsyrer seje rocksmæld som det hymniske titelnummer, rejsebeskrivelsen »North East South West« og den indestængte 7-minutters-maraton »Arc of Bar«. Japandroids er modnet flot, uden at give afkald på deres fræsende kardinaldyder".

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