Total Life Forever
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CRITIC REVIEWS
100
At a time when there’s a dearth of new guitar bands, ‘Total Life Forever’ will establish Foals as one of the UK’s most important – their second album is an inventive, thrilling and flawless masterpiece.
91
TLF is a bid to be less in your face than in your head, and while its effect is less immediate, it’s a comedown that’s way more fun than the party.
80
As soon as Foals’ guitars begin their patient chime, it’s clear that this is a band suddenly and surprisingly in full control of its powers.
80
‘Total Life Forever’ is a massive leap forward for the band. The music writhes with a renewed ambition, capable of moving from near ambient strains of electronica to propulsive African funk in a drum break. Shifting from their 2D debut album, ‘Total Life Forever’ is a three-dimensional triumph.
80
Even when Foals stretch back into the comfortable strides of danceable beats and scratchy guitars, it is tinged with something sour and slightly acidic. This isn't the same band we once knew–thank heaven for that.
76
At every turn, Total Life Forever is inviting. Much more alive than earlier efforts, it's an album with a complexion that constantly changes with time.
73
Foals is a band with untapped potential: they’ve got a solid vocalist, are more than competent at their instruments, and clearly have an ear for melodies, but the way they put their music together remains mostly uninspiring.
70
Where Antidotes had blitzkriegs, Total Life Forever has drawn-out hypnoses; where Antidotes was furious and muscular and destructive, Total Life Forever is quiet and sinister and inconsolable.
70
Where some see restraint, others may very well see refinement, and those who appreciated Antidotes' more spacy passages will find that Foals' reinvention of their sound is a calculated risk that definitely pays off.
70
Some songs linger too long like a bee that tip-toes across your skin trying to discern whether you really are in fact pollen.
60
At its core, Total Life Forever is a good dance record: something you could leave on at a party and not stop moving to until its full 50 minutes have finished. But as much as it tries to run away from that, it isn’t a whole lot else.
There's something so incredibly satisfying about this album. It's simplistic, sure, but it's still a very well-rounded, cohesive album. It's a great take on the indie genre. In my opinion, music doesn't need to be innovative to be good, so long as you deliver your original take on an already existing genre and you do it well, I can appreciate it. That's exactly what Foals do on TLF.
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Year End Lists
| #6 | / | NME |
| #7 | / | Clash |
| #8 | / | musicOMH |
| #11 | / | DIY |
| #15 | / | Rhapsody SoundBoard |
| #16 | / | Q Magazine |
| #20 | / | No Ripcord |
| #20 | / | The Line of Best Fit |
| #25 | / | MOJO |
| #33 | / | Drowned in Sound |
More Lists
MISC LISTS
| #37 | / | NME (2010-2014) |
Track List
- Blue Blood
- Miami
- Total Life Forever
- Black Gold
- Spanish Sahara
- This Orient
- Fugue
- After Glow
- Alabaster
- Two Trees
- What Remains
In Library (34)
