Sea of Worry

Have a Nice Life - Sea of Worry
Critic Score
Based on 5 reviews
2019 Ratings: #780 / 805
User Score
Based on 663 ratings
2019 Rank: #697
Liked by 42 people
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CRITIC REVIEWS

74
Pitchfork

Beneath the metallic sheen of goth rock, the cult band’s third album addresses the disquieting anxieties of adulthood with vengeful indignation.

65
Spectrum Culture

The songs on Sea of Worry are a bit duller than the invigorating, draining and explosive songs presented on previous projects, but still serves as the grown-up, easy to access version of a group that is yet to release anything not worth your while.

60
Kerrang!

Have A Nice Life’s third album is more accessible than you might expect from the Connecticut shoegazers’ miserabilist reputation.

56
Sputnikmusic

Sea of Worry becomes something I never thought I’d label Have a Nice Life: predictable.

30
The Needle Drop

Sea of Worry is by a mile HANL's stalest, least imaginative album yet.

PipePanic
83

And here we see AOTY stans riot. Everyone's favorite shoegaze bitches are back with their version of a punk record.

You already know how this goes. It's Have a Nice Life! Creators of two fantastic shoegaze records that have been a STAPLE in nearly every AOTY list for 'best albums of all time'. We ALL know that Deathconciousness is a modern classic, and we ALL know how much The Unnatural World opened up Have A Nice Life to a more wider demographic, becoming accessible while still remaining ... read more

BuffaloStaple
44

damn these guys are sounding like some real boomers rn ngl

Mol
73

If you stripped the emotion and nihilism out of Deathconsciousness, you would be left with this rather cookie-cutter shoegaze album. It's fine to vibe to, some of the verses are catchy, and I'm spacing out to it in class. After The Unnatural World, I'm not sure if high expectations are fair for HANL. Deathconsciousness was a rare album that captured the best of all their qualities, and likely will not be replicated again. I guess we have to just accept HANL for who they are now.

(Sick album ... read more

RomanVint
68

Is this their worst? So far, absolutely.
Is this terrible? Absolutely not.

I genuinely respect the fact that they didn't chase the success of "Deathconsciousness" and tried something different.
However, result could be better. I think "Sea of Worry" causes mixed feelings because of two reasons:
1) Clean recorded instruments don't work well with processed vocals (at least in this case). It feels like you're listening to a live performance rather than a studio recording. ... read more

Sir_Scuppington
70

While certainly not their best work, it still makes me feel.

Cashiscoolest
85

The expectation of Have A Nice Life to keep making Deathconsciousness is getting a bit ridiculous. I love that album as much as the next guy but if you keep expecting every HANL release to sound like that the odds are you aren’t going to like it. But this album actually sounds pretty good, I like that they tried something new with Post-punk and I think they succeeded.

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Track List

1Sea of Worry
4:40
76
2Dracula Bells
7:44
74
3Science Beat
5:35
79
4Trespassers W
4:49
77
5Everything We Forget
4:12
65
6Lords of Tresserhorn
6:07
76
7Destinos
13:12
65
Total Length: 46 minutes
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Added on: March 20, 2019