Foals - Holy Fire

Clash Music“Something’s not quite right...” There’s plenty to commend it, but with such high expectations, it’s perhaps inevitable that this album could never live up to them...

Pitchfork“A very good, ambitious record...” Threatens greatness, and whatever disappointment comes from missing the mark is mitigated by its scope: A bomb needs to be operational more than it needs to be accurate...

Drowned In Sound“Thank heavens they haven’t fucked up...” Having spent three albums honing their current guise, the only way forward for Foals is to rip up what’s gone before and start again. For now, their long-standing swagger is finally justified. Time to bask in its reflected glory...

BBC“Arena tours should await them...” Holy Fire is somewhat hamstrung by Bad Habit, a peculiar hybrid of The Temper Trap’s Sweet Disposition and Mumford & Sons. It lacks the singular spark that makes this band’s best cuts stand boldly from the crowd...

The Quietus“Spare, diaphanous and almost dizzy with its own levity...” Despite its muscular moments, Holy Fire is a pneumatic, vaporous-sounding record that deals mostly with the ache, ambience and eventual acceptance of being alone...

The Skinny“A nuanced sharpening of their abilities...” There's plenty of the tuneful, almost oriental guitar playing here which is instantly characteristic of Foals; Bad Habit and Everytime both demonstrate the kind of melodic-yet-solemn qualities they've been brandishing in recent times...

MusicOMH“The sound of a band utterly on form...” Holy Fire appears to be the album where Foals embrace pop music. Inhaler is not just ridiculously funky but also monstrously heavy, sounding almost like Montreal performing a Led Zeppelin cover...

The Independent“Things plummet badly in the second half...” It may simply be the influence of producers Flood and Alan Moulder, but on Holy Fire, Foals move further away from their nerdy math-rock origins to a more muscular rock'n'roll style...

The Line of Best Fit“Foals’ masterpiece...” With their latest album it’s glaringly apparent that a little something has changed. Still, a real plague of confusion confounds the listener...

Guardian“A bold and confident gesture...” An album by a British guitar band who want to win a huge audience without writing chantalongs for the drinkers' crowd, or lowest-emotional-common-denominator piano ballads. Put a fiver on those couple of nights at the O2 before the year's done...