The Kniфe* – Shaking The Habitual

Unfortunately pretty crackly (kinda ruined A Cherry On Top), but the mastering is satisfying and this pressing is so cheap that you can’t deny it. Basically cost me as much as a regular 2xCD except it comes with a 3xLP and posters as a bonus :P

Posting back here 10 years later when we paid £19.99 for a triple vinyl album with the 2 CD edition packaged inside. Now I'm facing down getting the new Sparks SINGLE vinyl album for £35 with not even a code inside. Vinyl is dead

Uncompromising, visceral, and enraged excursions into the darker realms of The Knife. Percussive, tribal, and jagged. Single disc version minus the 19 minute drone.

Uncompromising, visceral, and enraged excursions into the darker realms of The Knife. Percussive, tribal, and jagged.

Only $4.99 for two Great cds and two Great posters and a great digital pack BUY NOW!

One of the best dark electro pop albums i have ever heard. Sure it's slow, it's heavy, kinda ambient leaning sometimes, but that just leads to the album having this extremely sinister atmosphere. Andmost of the runtime is filled with incredibly infectious drum grooves, ed by droning synths and the distorted vocals, singing about depression, gender dysphoria as well as other dark aspects of life. This album is very danceable yes, but it's also the kind of record to punch a hole in the wall to. Extremely energetic, yet sometimes extremely far away, but always dark and haunting.
And the cover art alone is fantastic, the contrast on those colors....
Definetly recommend

Could do without the 20+ minute ambient track and a couple of others could have been cut / edited to make a double LP but overall I really like this. Full of fire, wrap your arms around me, raging lung and networking are my favorites - my vinyl copy sounds good even though the records came dirty / scratched out of the packet. End extreme wealth!

I listened to it when it came out. Now listening to it again. Definitely they delve much deeper into their sound. It’s definitely their best album. Hopefully, not their last. My 3LP set sounds very well compared to how most other new releases are pressed on vinyl these days. Regretfully, I ask why are records being pressed onto 180g discs if the quality is poor? I’ve seen reviews like those of you who posted prior to me on the poor sound quality 180g pressings.

I love this record, and the packaging is amazing, not to mention how cheap this is for 3 LPs, 2 CDs and 2 posters, but I have to say that this is one of my crackliest records. Granted, I don't have access to the tools for a wet cleaning, but I do have a record brush that I use very meticulously, and few of my other records have this many crackles and pops.

As interesting as this album is, it's a bit of a trainwreck. A bloated monstrous 2-disc assault that takes the weirdness from Silent Shout but removes all pop sensibilities and catchy melodies. You're left with a lot of pure atmosphere and insanity but it all feels extremely hollow for me and more like they are trying to make an artistic statement.

And it feels really hypocritical to release an album with a "fuck rich people" vibe when you're as rich as The Knife have gotten from how much they earned on their earlier stuff. Sorry but maybe if this was their first album I could defend the political feminist punk attitude but from someone like The Knife it just doesn't work.

It's fine having an album with a few lengthy songs but when almost none of the songs here are less than 6 minutes and some of them reach 10-20 minutes in length, you're kind of left with something that is frankly unlistenable on its own unless you just like this sort of stuff.

Personally I much prefer The Knife's earlier stuff and this just feels like they're ending on a very embarassing note for me...