The general Inferno review, magazine, podcast etc. topic

[jcnporter]

I haven't listened to the album or read much of the review, so FYI, but spoilers inevitable as well!

https://www.theguardian.com/music/2026/may/23/boards-of-canada-inferno-review-after-13-years-away-their-prodigal-return-is-a-big-disappointment?CMP=bsky_gu#Echobox=1779527154

[Altruizine]

Saw this. My main takeaway is, not having heard the album, I’m sure tons of people would think Prophecy is total crap. It sounds dissonant, repetitive, strange. Personally I love it though.

I’m sure tons of people would have the same reaction if you played them the prettiest BoC track. It’s just not for everyone and those who ”get it” get it

[Negamuse]

Not gonna repost my entire rant on here, it's on Reddit if you're interested.

But one of the first things I said coming out of the thing was "this is going to divide the room" and the attitude in this is exactly what I meant. People whose conceptualisation of BoC is MHTRTC coming along to a free junket like a sneering media wanker and not understanding what "Orientalism" is are going to hate it. Everyone else is having a great time

[Mexicola]

Lest we forget. The Guardian like Geese. Their opinion is therefore invalid.

You may as well ask them to review the next Napalm Death record, they simply aren't going to like it and their review is not for us. Utterly ambivalent about their view frankly.

[dana]

Like most things, enshittification has bled into the guardian now for a while.

The reviewer only likes light and fluffy pop music haha i can only imagine his face when listening to the new album.

[Wildfire]

Naraka makes it seem as if they’re laughing at eastern religion, too – either that or they’re just deploying lazy orientalism (which later reappears with the sitar twang of Deep Time).

Peak Guardian. Taking something joyful and then purposefully intellectualising/politicising it to the point of negativity. I truly dislike that newspaper so much these days. Maybe if BOC hadn't been white middle aged males this review would have been different (I'm sure I'll take heat for that one but fuck it). Also it's not a sitar you c**t.

[IanRedpoint]

Lest we forget. The Guardian like Geese. Their opinion is therefore invalid.

Hehe. You absolutely nailed it there!

The reviewer seemed to go into it with the opinion that their referencing of religion could only be as a form of cynical mockery. I mean, that has never been BoC's style or stance before, so why should it be now?

The music journalism has been the weak point of the Guardian for years. They nailed their colours to planet "pop" a while back and struggle to write away from that.

[Mexicola]

Lest we forget. The Guardian like Geese. Their opinion is therefore invalid.

Hehe. You absolutely nailed it there!

The reviewer seemed to go into it with the opinion that their referencing of religion could only be as a form of cynical mockery. I mean, that has never been BoC's style or stance before, so why should it be now?

The music journalism has been the weak point of the Guardian for years. They nailed their colours to planet "pop" a while back and struggle to write away from that.

IAN!!! Were your ears burning?? We were wondering how you were in the pub afterwards. Hope you're well chap!

[shinealight]

It is ignorant ragebait. It isnt even a matter of taste, the reviewer is objectively wrong about a bunch of stuff. I urge anyone else not to give it the clicks. The FT review on the other hand that gives it 2/5 is reasonably written even if I likely will not agree with the score.

[DFD21]

Read it this morning. Meh. A shitty review hasn't stopped me from pre-ordering two copies. The only music reviewer I normally read in the Graun is John Fordham for the jazz reviews, though he tends to give everything four stars. He did the same with the latest Miles Davis re-issue.

They have a habit of trying to be a bit too clever in reviews. Their film hack Peter Bradshaw loathes science fiction movies and seemingly would rather watch a six-hour film of an old man watching clouds. As long as it's in Persian, mind.

[deadfly]

If you want a decent review the Resident Advisor one is worth checking out

[Radiobuzz]

This has been happening ever since the release of Geogaddi onwards though, every BoC album is painted as 'not as good as' when they came out only to get celebrated years after.

[2020k]

I trust RA a lot more than I trust, uh, the financial times. So.

https://ra.co/reviews/36354

[2020k]

They’re probably pissed that BOC didn’t give them an interview this time around or something.

Anytime I see a negative review of a band or artist trying something different I just remember how panned Slowdive was for almost their entire careers before all the publications one day magically went “we didn’t say any of that.” So unserious.

[sowhereareyouliving?]

There's no conscionable reason to entertain the ideas, let alone read the words, of the communist sixth-form political rag Grauniad

[Mexicola]

I trust RA a lot more than I trust, uh, the financial times. So.

https://ra.co/reviews/36354

Fully concur. An excellent review.

[Mexicola]

Oh boy. Fugee, calm yourself.

[losador]

I am glad the Guardian exists, for the sake of some sort of balance in newspaper coverage in the UK (or England at least).

However, when it comes to any sort of reviews of the arts, it has been beneath useless for many years. The modus operandi seems to be to decide whether something should be liked or not first, and then backfill the review accordingly. This has been going on for a long time (and, of course, they are not the only ones).

Therefore I haven’t read a Guardian review on anything in the world of the arts for years. I haven’t and won’t read this one, nor have I heard the album, so I cannot comment meaningfully on this particular article - rather pointing out a longstanding trend.

On top of that, I have very little time for critics in general anyway these days, it’s become a fairly valueless vocation in my view.

Very much looking forward to hearing the album next week!

[Negamuse]

However, when it comes to any sort of reviews of the arts, it has been beneath useless for many years. The modus operandi seems to be to decide whether something should be liked or not first, and then backfill the review accordingly.

Yeah that continues on the other pages as well when they're deciding which political causes are important and whose rights matter, or not

ANYWAY

Reviews are always gonna come down to taste aren't they. Would be great if a reviewer would be able to acknowledge their blind spots and let someone else take a review of something they had more knowledge of, for good or bad.

But the least they could do is not be actually wrong. Bah

[North by North]

What a fuck wad of a write up. Delete it.

Can’t wait for all to hear, or hear again properly in a few days. There’s so much going on.