Album Review: The Criticals — The Criticals (2025)
Image used for review purposes. © The Criticals / Fantasy Records.
The Criticals’ self-titled album holds onto the restless energy that has always defined their music but sharpens it into something more confident. Their early EPs thrived on looseness. The ideas were strong, but the recordings felt rough around the edges. This record feels tighter. The guitars slice cleaner. The rhythms punch with focus. The vocals rise above the mix without effort.
Keep Me High makes the difference most obvious, running on crisp guitar lines that give the song drive and clarity. It builds into a soaring hook that feels made for festival stages. Finger, by contrast, slows the pace and leans into atmosphere. Its hazy guitars and steady groove pull the energy inward, creating one of the record’s most immersive moments.
The variety comes in the middle stretch. Mother of Style carries the sharp cool of early 2000s New York rock, echoing the angles of The Strokes. Adoringly Drunk loosens up, swaggering like it was made for late nights in packed clubs. Danish Eyes keeps the pulse moving while layering a moodier haze, broadening the album’s palette without losing momentum.
Reba digs into what might be described as Southern grit, a lane that lines up similarly with Giovannie and the Hired Guns, think the same raw hook power you hear on “Ramon Ayala.” But it also has flashes of The Weeks, closer to the ragged drive of “Buttons.” The Criticals filter these sounds through their indie polish, turning it into one of the record’s most distinctive tracks.
The album runs just over thirty minutes, moving like a live set.
Fast.
Direct.
No filler.
The record flows with consistency, each track carrying the same pulse while offering its own shade of energy. That cohesion is the pull, showing The Criticals sharpening what has always been there and aiming it toward bigger rooms.
Bottom line: The Criticals’ debut full-length proves their sound is no longer just promising. It’s fully realized, polished, and built for bigger stages without losing the edge that makes them exciting.
Highlights: Keep Me High • Finger • Mother of Style • Danish Eyes • Reba
