What Went Down

by 
AlbumAug 28 / 201518 songs, 1h 27m 49s98%
Indie Rock
Popular Highly Rated
6.7 / 10

The new Foals LP feels like the completion of an unplanned trilogy—Total Life Forever embraced commitment, Holy Fire yearned for liberation, and this is the band recoiling from the blowback. At this point, Foals have mastered an arena-funk hybrid that others have only touched on.

5 / 10

8 / 10

Bolder and more grandiose than ever, the Oxford quintet finds themselves at a tipping point on their fourth LP.

Check out our album review of Artist's What Went Down on Rolling Stone.com.

If Foals didn’t already have enough songs in their arsenal to top festival bills, they’ve just added ten more.

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What Went Down's title track makes no bones about Foal’s intentions for album number four – seething with a thundering, caustic might that makes the distant Cassius feel like candy floss in comparison

8 / 10

The suggestively titled What Went Down, by English rockers Foals, comes in the wake of a massive touring cycle for their previous album, Hol...

6.5 / 10

It's pretty much a given by now that Foals are the leading arena-rock band of the indie-rock era. With 2008's Antidotes, they started out as a niche interest—a precise and calculated math-rock band.

7 / 10

Ever since the release of 2008's 'Antidotes', each new Foals record has shown a considerable amount of maturation. From math rock beginnings

For their fourth album, the Oxford quintet build on their burgeoning reputation and sound – but sometimes end up overdoing things

5 / 10

9.0 / 10

Review of new Foals' album 'What Went Down', the UK's band's forthcoming release comes out tomorrow. Lead single "Wind at my gates" is now streaming.

The latest album completes their transformation into a meaty stadium rock act, but there’s not enough melodic ingenuity to win them new fans

70 %

The opener shares the album’s name and borrows from The National’s playbook for complex, broken and earnest drumming — something of a trademark for Foals.

Album Reviews: Foals - What Went Down

Coming to Foals without the baggage – without knowing, for example, that they’re a British guitar band of mid-Noughties vintage – is a disconcerting experience, not least where fourth album What Went Down is concerned.

8 / 10