Music : Agaetis Byrjun

Rating: - Impenetrably Icelandic
I bought this album on the strength of the other reveiws here and I have to say "sorry folks,is there something I'm not getting" because this turned out to be something of a disappointment. Okay I knew it was'nt an english language album but I did'nt think that would be a problem.I was wrong,on this album I would have liked to have known what their singing about.That and the too mellow,trippy music that lacks any sort of cohesiveness and verges on the lack-lustre and gives me no reason to want to play it again which probably means I won't find out if this is a grower,explains the 2 star rating. And the singing isn't all that magical-bit of a drone really.

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Rating: - Soothes the troubled soul
Dark room, headphones, comfy chair... sit back and let Sigur Ros do what only Sigur Ros can; create music that calms, excites, saddens and astonishes in equal measure. Sure, it's sung in quasi-Icelandic - but with a voice like THAT, who cares? Sigur Ros are taking you all the way to heaven, who'd have thought it would sound so good? And they say the devil has the best tunes...

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Rating: - If your looking for something different then this is it.
This CD is truely a gem. Its otherworldliness is a beautiful break from reality. Ethereal icelandic lyrics and soothing strings are enhanced by one of the most incredible vocal performances i have ever heard. it is quite simply a breathtaking experiance, buy it and be amazed.

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Rating: - it's the best record ever made.
i know this looks like a procession of geeky nutters saying oh yeah it's great, but, um it is. i've called a number of records "the best record ever made" in my time, including ok computer, the sophtware slump (by grandaddy) and mogwai: kicking a dead pig. but this is better than all of them. it really is the best record ever made.

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Rating: - A bona fide masterpiece
I bought this LP on a trip to Reykjavik last September on spec, purely because there was such a big fuss being made about it there. Even so, I wasn't prepared for the awesome grandeur of the project. Imagine Jeff Buckley's 'Corpus Christie Carol', Slowdive, Mogwai at their most grand and Godspeed You Black Emperor whipped into an elegant brulee and you may have some inkling of what to expect. Jon Birgisson has 'the voice', an angelic fifth instrument - the language is of little importance compared to the primal emotion and stellar beauty. If I'm allowed one tiny criticism, its that the pace of the record is uniformly stately. Something a little brisker thrown in halfway through may have added a little levity. But that's a minor quibble. This is a benchmark record. 'Von', their first LP is as yet unavailable outside Iceland. It's a good record on its own terms, but serves as a fascinating look at how their sound has evolved from a more avant-garde noise-based one to the near-perfection of Agaetis Byrjun