Thin Black Duke
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- 25th Street Recording
- (Oakland, California) Sunset Sound Recorders
- (Hollywood, California)
- Ruminator Audio
- (San Francisco, California)
| Thin Black Duke | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
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| Studio album by | ||||
| Released | May 5, 2017 | |||
| Studio | Various
| |||
| Genre | ||||
| Length | 38:59 | |||
| Label | Hydra Head | |||
| Producer | ||||
| Oxbow chronology | ||||
| ||||
Thin Black Duke is the seventh studio album by American experimental rock band Oxbow. It was released on May 5, 2017 through Hydra Head Records.
According to Pitchfork writer Zoe Camp, the album "envision[s] a world domineered by disorder, a carnivalesque arena where music's most intimidating, grandiose genres (free jazz, high-concept chamber pop, noise, neoclassical, metal) can duke it out like gladiators one minute, and come together for a grotesque group hug the next."[2]
Critical reception
| Aggregate scores | |
|---|---|
| Source | Rating |
| Metacritic | 87/100[3] |
| Review scores | |
| Source | Rating |
| Drowned in Sound | 9/10[4] |
| The Line of Best Fit | 8/10[5] |
| Louder Sound |   [6] |
| Mojo | [7] |
| musicOMH | [8] |
| Ox-Fanzine |  [9] |
| Pitchfork | 7.3/10[2] |
| Record Collector | [10] |
| Tiny Mix Tapes | [11] |
Thin Black Duke was met with critical acclaim. The album received an average score of 87/100 from 9 reviews on Metacritic, indicating "universal acclaim".[3] In a positive review with The Quietus, Sean Guthrie wrote, "By rights no group should be peaking after 30 years of making music together, yet that is the situation in which Oxbow find themselves. Will they ever transcend Thin Black Duke? Such are the ideas and attention to detail on this record, only a fool would bet against them."[12] Zoe Camp of Pitchfork was positive on the album, but she did not see Thin Black Duke as Oxbow's "definitive show of force".[2]
Accolades
| Year | Publication | Country | Accolade | Rank | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2017 | Rolling Stone | United States | "20 Best Metal Albums of 2017" | 7 | [13] |
| 2017 | The Quietus | United Kingdom | "Albums of the Year, 2017" | 10 | [14] |
| 2017 | Decibel | United States | "Top 40 Albums of 2017" | 30 | [15] |
| 2017 | musicOMH | United Kingdom | "Top 50 Albums of 2017" | 20 | [16] |
| 2017 | Louder Than War | United Kingdom | "Top 100 Albums of 2017" | 66 | [17] |
| 2017 | The Observer | United Kingdom | "Observer readers' hidden musical gems of 2017" | - | [18] |