What's scary about an 8.6?

Yes it does. And no they don't.

I would love a link for this if anyone can be bothered.

Edit: Nevermind, bought it yesterday. I like it a lot and I'm having trouble understanding any hate toward it. I mean, besides the whole "suburbs" thing being a tired idea I think it's above average... Perhaps not brilliant, but definitely good.

it's too sonically uniform for my liking.

amazing
 

I think its brillant personally

Me too!!! I don't think it's all that sonically uniform either... there are tracks that pretty much go in all sorts of directions sonically. The theme seems to be fairly central, but that's pretty typical of Arcade Fire albums, they tend to be built on a thematic spine.

It's definitely a grower. For a while, I liked it less than Neon Bible (and, naturally, significantly less than Funeral), but now I believe it's superseded their sophomore release in my eyes. It still doesn't touch Funeral, but that was basically the defining album of the decade, so I didn't expect it to overtake that masterpiece.

Now, I like The Suburbs a lot. It doesn't overwhelm emotionally on first listen like their other two albums, but the songs have a way of getting under your skin. The only songs I don't like are the chunk in the last third ("Wasted Hours, "Deep Blue", "Sprawl I" - thank god "We Used To Wait" breaks it up a bit), but those are more just kinda boring than bad. The only song I really don't like is "City With No Children," which is my pick for, easily, the worst Arcade Fire song.

Maybe I'll write a full review of this album once I get into the swing of things here, but I'm still new. For now, I'll just say The Suburbs gets a definite thumbs up.

It isn't sonically uniform at all (in fact it's pretty scattered), but even if it were, that's more of an achievement these days than a detriment. At least it shows direction. Combine that with a solid set of songs and you're onto a winner.

Modern Man is sooooooooooooooooooooo good. Along with the rest of the album.

I'm still hung up on We Used to Wait... that there is a brilliant tune with such a poignant and touching subject matter to me lyrically... I honestly still get the tingle down my spine I got when i first heard that song. Just a wonderful moment on the album...

i like the way that this is by far the most popular thread concerning any albums this year - an implicit acknowledgement that this is clearly a landmark album for 2010 and its most important release, whatever anybody wants to say about it.

that's not to say it is the best, though. i leave the prize for artistic achievement to either joanna newsom or janelle monae.