Portishead Third

3.5 stars out of 5 -- "THIRD is an unexpected yet totally impressive return.....Portishead mix up dub, break beats, cathedral organ, Moroccan drones and even surf rock into a headphone album for sour times."
Ranked #3 in Spin's "40 Best Albums Of 2008" -- "Both taut and unhinged, THIRD turns soul music into a bare-bulb interrogation of the soul."
"Beth Gibbons' spectral vocals linger atop eerie, warped pulses of music to create a swirl of melancholia." -- Grade: B+
5 stars out of 5 -- "Adrian Utley proves to be the key player through much of the record....Here his playing is frequently awe-inspiring....THIRD is the most stunning, stark and superb Portishead album yet."
4 stars out of 5 -- "Listening to Portishead has always been like floating through a waking dream, but now the sleek edges have atrophied into a dusty chaos, and it's all the more beautiful and perfect for the change."
"[Portishead] pays respect to innovators like Kraftwerk, Brian Eno, Wendy Carlos, and the RZA....THIRD has the blare of revolution."
3 stars out of 5 -- "THIRD's sole link with the past is Gibbon's voice, now less mannered and more careworn...especially on twinkling interlude 'Deep Water'..."
4 stars out of 5 -- "[C]onstantly beguiling....Throughout, Gibbons' singing gives musical and emotional coherence."
Ranked #11 in Mojo's "The 50 Best Albums Of 2008" -- "Eleven years in the gestating, and totally worth the wait."
Paste (magazine) (p.52) - "THIRD is far and away the best, most punk thing in the Portishead catalog: a deeply transgressive album that bears a passing similarity to its predecessors but leaves most of the baggage behind..."
4 stars out of 5 -- "[P]ositively infected with spanking new ideas....The jazz, terrifyingly, near Tropicalia prog and, gulp, ukuleles of Geoff Barrow's vast and vinyl library really come to the forefront."
Clash (Magazine) (p.108) - "Portishead have sidled back to express their tortured collective in more depth than most bands could ever dream off. They have subverted the natural order. Pain was never meant to feel this good."
Clash (Magazine) (p.67) - Ranked #15 in Clash's "The 40 Best Albums of 2008" -- "THIRD emerged as an abrasive, industrial and intimidating record..."