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Stars indicate the most critically-acclaimed albums.

The Evening Descends
by Evangelicals


9.6

based on 13 reviews
Read critic reviews
How did we calculate this?

based on 5 votes
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Rate this album

Evangelicals @ Dead Oceans

The sophomore album from the Oklahoma indie rock band.

LABEL:	Dead Oceans
RELEASE DATE:	22 January 2008
DISCS:	1 disc
GENRE(S):	Rock, Indie

All critic scores are converted to a 100-point scale. If a critic does not indicate a score, we assign a score based on the general impression given by the text of the review. Learn more...

Lost At Sea

Few bands have managed to blend so many divergent sounds and styles together to make such an interesting, great-sounding, and cohesive [key word] record as Evangelicals have with The Evening Descends.

Pitchfork

What really makes this album special is the ways in which the Evangelicals pull off big-stage spectacle on what still sounds like a public-access cable-show budget.

Uncut

Evangelicals sing of skeletons, snowflakes and things that go bump in the night with witty samples and imaginative arrangements. [Mar 2008, p.87]

Magnet

The Evening Descends is a dizzying, carefully crafted ride; it spins, but never out of control. [Winter 2008, p.102]

Tiny Mix Tapes

The one knock on this record is that it just isn’t very dynamic, as too many of the tracks fail to strike with the impact of truly great efforts. There are exceptions, of course, and the drumming on the fantastic 'Skeleton Man' propels the track with a driving momentum that’s too often missing on The Evening Descends.

PopMatters

On their sophomore album, Evangelicals give us a glimpse of a more mature, real band.

All Music Guide

A winsome and not entirely stable treat.

Spin

When the messy, antic songs go pop (the Of Montreal-esque "Paperback Suicide"), they really pop; when they head into comedown territory ("Party Crashin'"), aimlessness ensues. Thankfully, Evening mostly partakes of the good stuff.

Mojo

The sudden shifts between smooth/jarring and soft/hard make for an uncomfortable but compelling ride. [Mar 2008, p.113]

Austin Chronicle

Intricate layers and rolling, subtle lifts give way to chaos, but taken in one dose, The Evening Descends is a few hits short of lovely.

Under The Radar

Jones' ruinous voice brings the otherwise ascendant The Evening Descends toward a dark and inhospitable night. [Winter 2008, p.81]

Prefix Magazine

A sprawler is always a dangerous gambit for a band. It can easily trip over the line from cracked genius into failed experiment, as The Evening Descends does.

Drowned In Sound

The Evening Descends isn’t actually a concept album (at least, I can’t find any hard evidence saying it is), but the mixture of overblown seriousness and misfiring silliness, cut with a bludgeoning lack of subtlety and some well-worn-out running themes, mean it sure as hell sounds like it would’ve been if it’d been given half a chance.

The average user rating for this album is 9.6 (out of 10) based on 5 User Votes
Note: User votes are NOT included in the Metascore calculation.

S gave it a10:
Weird-driven sweet psychedelic pop with waves of melodies , harmonies , ideas , sounds n beauty flow around n creatin an addictive and orgasmic -musically- result.from flaming lips to mercury rev , from spoon to of montreal with even echoes of pink floyd, everythin is here. even if its too early, I can definitely say that "The Evening Descends" is definitely one of the albums of the year.

JC C. gave it a10:
Simply a stunning album. Messy and grandiose at the same time, this is exactly the kind of music that The Flaming Lips should have been making for the last 10 years. Some will scream "CONCEPT ALBUM" but that shouldn't put anyone off as this is a beautifully crafted album with no weak moments and a stunning sense of raw emotion throughout. Naturally, the critics have been polarised on this one but personally, I doubt I'll hear a better album all year.

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The Evening Descends by Evangelicals

The Evening Descends
by Evangelicals