Sleaford Mods
Divide and Exit
Release Date: May 27, 2014
Genre(s): Pop/Rock, Alternative/Indie Rock
Record label: Harbinger Sound
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Album Review: Divide and Exit by Sleaford Mods
Excellent, Based on 7 Critics
Based on rating 8/10
Sleaford Mods :: Divide and ExitHarbinger SoundAuthor: Patrick TaylorSleaford Mods are not from Sleaford, not mods, and not a hip-hop group. They are generally classified as punk; I came across "Divide and Exit" after I heard several people call it the punk album of the year. All I could think of when I heard them, however, was that they were a rap group.
Based on rating 4/5
Sometimes, in times of complacency, what we really need is a band to rock up and tell everyone to fuck off. Introducing Jason Williamson: chippy-looking geezer of a certain age, used to play in mod bands, got nowhere. Then one day he found himself in a studio ranting over a beat by Andrew Fearn, and Sleaford Mods were born. The formula is simple: Fearn drops the beat, a rickety stomp of drum machine and lurking bass guitar.
Based on rating 4/5
On a strong follow-up to last year’s bracing Austerity Dogs, Sleaford Mods arm their brash, aggressive secondwave punk sound with vicious and profane barbed-wire raps and gruff, repetitive choruses. The rhythms are sometimes lithe, sometimes chugging, and littered with strange slivers of tunes that bring just enough fresh air to the record to stop it becoming bleak rhetoric. Still, disappointment and bitterness loom large.
Based on rating 4/5
The modus operandi of prolific Nottingham duo Sleaford Mods might not sound especially promising: it's essentially angry swearing atop rudimentary bedroom synth sounds. But that would be reckoning without Jason Williamson's supremely entertaining delivery. A hybrid of Shaun Ryder stream-of-consciousness and Malcolm Tucker creative obscenity, he never sounds less than fuming, whether referencing David Cameron ("the prime minister's face hanging in the clouds like Gary Oldman's Dracula") or addressing more innocuous subject matter such as breakfast cereals ("fucking Shredded Wheat, Kellogg's Cunts" – you don't get that with Ed Sheeran).
Based on rating 7.8/10
Sleaford Mods are the type of band that force you to have an opinion on them within about five seconds of hearing their music. There are no half-measures, no stylistic arcs, no organic steps taken, no time at all to let it sink in and decide if this is something you might like. They’re a duo from Grantham in England, a place most famous for being the birthplace of former Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher.
Opinion: Excellent
Sleaford Mods snap at you, lumber at you, insult you, your friends, probably some of your family too. They're a force of nature, of testosterone and English crossness; of bile and humour. Divide And Exit arrives a year and a short bit after Austerity Dogs, and the duo of Jason Williamson and Andrew Fearn haven't been arsed to wait around for a label (there would surely be plenty ready to pick them up), instead sticking this right up on Bandcamp for free streaming and purchase.
Opinion: Very Good
From Lynyrd Skynyrd to the Black Crowes to the Drive-By Truckers, Southern rockers have been acutely self-conscious about where they come from, writing songs steeped in history, local color, memories, everyday life, expectations and paradoxes. Lee Bains III & the Glory Fires, a four-man band from ….
'Divide and Exit'
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