There Is No Year

Algiers - There Is No Year
Critic Score
Based on 22 reviews
2020 Ratings: #732 / 871
User Score
Based on 437 ratings
2020 Rank: #869
Liked by 13 people
January 17, 2020 / Release Date
LP / Format
Matador / Label
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CRITIC REVIEWS

90
God Is in the TV

There is No Year is the music we need right now, fired up, political and anxious, staring the end of the world in the face, but not giving up.

80
AllMusic

These tight, explosive songs combine a refined poetic lyric approach in songwriting and arranging that's every bit as urgent as the album's two predecessors, yet it's so emotionally charged, it leaves the listener breathless and exhausted, as well as compelled and excited.

80
NME

The band continue to be radical, but rather than being reactionary, ‘There is No Year’ is precise, thoughtful and powerful.

80
Spill Magazine

There Is No Year is an outstanding album that offers the listener the opportunity to step into a grim reality, but to do so feeling armed against that gloom, and desperate to be part of some or any change.

80
Spectrum Culture

Whereas their previous albums were instinctive in their anger, this finds the group taking a far more measured and varied approach.

80
The Observer

Algiers are difficult, unplaceable, a band that need sleevenotes and lyric sheets and longform narrative films, not a download link in a Whatsapp thread.

77
Northern Transmissions

‘There Is No Year’ is a reflection of its subject matter; chaotic, troubled, intense and conflicted, defiant yet broken.

75
The Line of Best Fit

Far too few of this group’s contemporaries take risks like they do, and far too few have anything of substance to say.

70
The Young Folks

There Is No Year is another solid album from a band that has yet to disappoint. Even with all of the new things that they try, it’s hard to discredit Algiers for attempting to shift themselves in another direction.

70
PopMatters

Sitting right at the cross-section between optimism and pessimism, There Is No Year is an enlivening experience, and a mostly successful artistic rendering of a world on fire.

63
GIGsoup

If the third album by the Atlanta-based group serves one purpose, it is that if you give Algiers thirty-seven minutes to mix politics and their distinct sonic attitude, you will have one messy, overflowing melting pot.

62
Paste

An album that often buries Algiers’ proven penchant for radical political songwriting under some of synthwave’s worst impulses.

60
Pitchfork

Grounded in historical horrors and gesturing darkly at personal demons, the gospel-punk band’s third album is shot through with dread.

60
DIY

It’s a record that doesn’t do things by halves, which is commendable but often to Algiers’ detriment.

50
The Needle Drop

Algiers play it dismayingly safe on their third album.

50
Under the Radar

In isolation, none of the tracks here are a write-off, but as a whole they don't connect into the holistic statement that writers and performers of this talent and thoughtfulness could achieve.

50
No Ripcord

Whether it’s the grayscale production at the hands of Randall Dunn and Ben Greenberg that plagues the middle of the album or a seeming lack of enthusiasm on behalf of the band, There Is No Year is one of the most disappointing follow-ups in recent memory.

40
Loud and Quiet

Unfortunately Algiers seem have to have spent so long introspectively soul-searching about the end of the world that they’ve forgotten how to write much in the way of engaging music.

Plats
74

Not quite as consistent or as powerful as I was expecting and I wish "Can the Sub_Bass Speak" was on here, but "There Is No Year" is still an interesting ,well-written and performed dystopian post-punk album with lots of soul influence and a great deal of synths and electronics.

Fav Tracks: Unoccupied, There Is No Year, Void, We Can't Be Found, Losing Is Ours, Chaka

Least Fav Track: Hour Of The Furnaces

Score:
7.4
Good

Doofy
17

The same old cheesy genre mismatch approach from Algiers - vaguely promising dark atmospherics slathered in OTT ‘heavy on the ham’ gospel/soul outpourings.

My least favourite vocals are BIG VOCALS that fail to convey any emotion - nothing is communicated to me by this singing style.

The Algiers sound has never appealed to me - and it appears that it never will.

ElectricMess
75

This isn’t the urgent call to arms that I expected, but I almost love There Is No Year more for that fact. What Algiers have delivered instead is a moody, dystopian vision of a future that’s already arrived. As opposed to what sounded like uninhibited riots on their previous album, the band instead opt for a stealthy takeover here: penetrating your mind with dark synthesizers and melodies that sneak their way into your head. Throughout much of this record, Algiers are at their most ... read more

pyddl
80

Comfortably the worst thing they've done.

etzharai
72

This may be not that good, but come on, is not that bad either

65

Fav track: Losing Is Ours

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Track List

1There Is No Year
3:14
67
2Dispossession
4:15
73
3Hour of the Furnaces
4:25
59
4Losing Is Ours
3:43
57
5Unoccupied
3:06
56
6Chaka
3:52
58
7Wait For the Sound
4:11
52
8Repeating Night
3:01
59
9We Can't Be Found
3:24
49
10Nothing Bloomed
3:40
54
11Void
2:57
40
Total Length: 39 minutes

Year End Lists

#32/The Quietus
#44/NBHAP
#77/Les Inrocks
/AllMusic
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Added on: October 29, 2019