Ceremonials
Florence + The Machine deliver one baroque-pop anthem after another on *Ceremonials*. Booming percussion, strings, echoing keyboards, and big guitars create a towering platform of sound from which Florence Welch emotes with a fury. Her powerful voice erupts amid a gospel choir on “Shake It Out,” “What the Water Gave Me,” and “Leave My Body,” while tribal drums fuel “No Light, No Light” and “Heartlines.”
On her band's second album, it can feel like Florence Welch is simply holding out a single note at top volume for an hour. Instead of Lungs' charming, discombobulating diversity, Ceremonials suffers from repetitiveness. The few tracks that do deviate from the heaven's-crescendo formula hardly curb frustrations.
It’s hard to imagine Florence Welch going bigger than she did on her surprise-hit 2009 debut Lungs, which held back little in its roiling whirlpool of keening vocals, rococo instrumentation, and outsized emotion. Yet the British singer’s follow-up, Ceremonials, manages to be even more aggressively effusive, which…
For evidence of that, you only need to listen to ‘Ceremonials’ and consider the album she could have made.
Florence + the Machine's 2009 debut, Lungs , was every bit as visceral as its title suggested, exploring the extremes of startling emotional violence and stark spiritual catharsis. With her red hair and pagan-glamour fashion sense, frontwoman Florence Welch came across like an artist still discovering what all she could get away with, and it proved surprisingly varied, with the tremendous "Dog Days" jostling against the straightforward "Kiss with a Fist." She rode that slow burner of an album all the way to the Grammys, where she outsung Christina Aguilera and Jennifer Hudson and proved she didn't ne...
The rock band most forcefully evoked on Ceremonials is one of the biggest of all time: U2.
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Florence Welch and her machine are here to take you to church with Ceremonials, the bombastic and bruising second album from the flame-haired British singer and her band.
While there’s no denying that the voice of Florence Welch is a bit like Marmite, the last two years have shown that she has many more lovers than haters, and deservedly so.
South London's favourite banshee brings a bit too much bluster to her second album, writes <strong>Kitty Empire</strong>
Florence and the Machine's 'Ceremonials' is a conversation that consists entirely in affirmations. Read our review.
Florence and The Machine 'Ceremonials' album review on Northern Transmissions. 'Ceremonials' by Florence And The Machine is now available on Universal
Ceremonials always sounds wonderful – but it never really satsifies, writes <strong>Michael Hann</strong>
The song was such a hit that Florence + the Machine performed it at the MTV VMAs and New Directions sang it on “Glee.”
Florence and the Machine - Ceremonials review: Itâs a melody, itâs a final cry, itâs a symphony.
Relentless second album wears its ambitions far too heavily. CD review by Graeme Thomson