Radiohead's new album is being met with far from universal critical acclaim.

The band's eighth studio album was released online 24 hours earlier than planned on Friday. Radiohead also posted a video for a new song from their album called "Lotus Flower."

The King of Limbs, which can be purchased at www.kingoflimbs.com, is receiving largely mixed reviews so far. Here is what some music critics are saying:

Their last album, 2007's In Rainbows, was perhaps the best of Radiohead's later releases, incorporating a more human (not to mention melodic) touch. Any hints that some light and shade was beginning to appear in the Radiohead canon have been largely snuffed out here, which is disappointing. Yes, you can still marvel that one of the world's biggest bands are releasing music totally lacking in commercial concerns. And yes, they're still leading the pack when it comes to releasing music in an exciting, innovative way. But whereas their business model is unusual, there's a nagging feeling that The King of Limbs is more like business as usual.

— Tim Jonze, Guardian

The King of Limbs, the new Radiohead album, balances beautifully the band's gift for melodic rock, energetic electronic rhythms and crafty musical experimentation . . . The King of Limbs leaves us yearning for more from these sessions. Rather than a condemnation of the album, that's high praise. Moments of brilliance are apparent even at first exposure; several tunes take root in our imagination even after a single listening. For its confidence, sense of adventure and abundant musicality, The King of Limbs reinforces the idea that Radiohead is the band that makes the most interesting and satisfying rock recordings since the Beatles. Nearly two decades into its recording career, Radiohead is still the standard for the present and future of rock.

— Jim Fusilli, The Wall Street Journal

This is an avant-garde record, and most definitely not a return to the crowd-pleasing songwriting of the OK Computer era. In a sense it's a continuation of In Rainbows in that Radiohead have now worked out how to be experimental without sacrificing the human element. As on that record, they display the knack of sounding deceptively machine-like. It sounds electronic even when it isn't — but there's always a pearl of soulfulness hidden within. In crude terms, it's probably more an Amnesiac than an In Rainbows or Kid A, a record to admire more than truly love. That said, we've only lived with it for a couple of hours. The image of an unfolding lotus flower is probably a good symbol for the album itself: no doubt it will unfurl more of its secrets over time.

— Luke Lewis, NME

With eight tracks spanning 37 minutes, King of Limbs is surprisingly short — but it's also typically rich with electronic texture.

— Will Hermes, Rolling Stone

Radiohead's The King Of Limbs might only be eight tracks long but there's not a single moment that hasn't been painstakingly constructed, de-constructed and put back together again. With all the ingenious ways the band are now choosing to release music, it's easy to forget just how inventive, avant-garde and, at the end of the day, emotionally touching the songs they make are. The King Of Limbs is an engrossing listen, an album that sends you to an emphatic high before wrapping you up in a blanket to recuperate. Masterful.

— Jason Gregory, Gigwise

As is the Radiohead way, as befits a an album whose cover nods to Edvard Munch's The Scream, The King Of Limbs will reveal its diverse charms even slower than it downloads, but while there is no pop music among these eight tracks, there is much to savour . . . The King Of Limbs combines elegant pain, weary despair, uncomfortable dislocation and an unmistakeable seam of comfort. Business as usual for Radiohead, then.

— John Aizlewood, London Evening Standard