Album Rating: 4.0

Christbait on a tear rn!



Would I like this if the last MM I enjoyed was We Were Dead Before the Ship Even Sank?

Album Rating: 3.8

Yes you would.

Album Rating: 4.0

Gyro - it's similar to that album and has a runtime of just 48 minutes which is like an EP by MM standards!

Album Rating: 3.5

@Gyro, absolutely you would. The album's main callbacks center around M&A, Good News, and WWD. Honestly, most people who've listened to them before will be able to pick it out for themselves. The weaker tracks tend to mirror the worser aspects of Strangers to Ourselves and Golden Casket but those are very few and far between given how strong the overall package is.

Album Rating: 3.5

Also, I highly recommend Paste's interview with Brock from last week. He mentions another album of songs exists in some form currently and is titled "Shadows in the Shade" (which, as I'm listening to "Third Side of the Moon", is lifted directly from the song's lyrics). It's supposed to be a companion album to this one.

An Eraser and a Maze was initially going to be titled "The Golden Noose" but Brock changed it because it was not meant to be a companion to The Golden Casket (although the vinyl copy of Strangers to Ourselves is titled "Golden Casket Vol. 1" so I'm assuming both of those albums were essentially written around the same time and had intended to be marketed as a double-album a la SOAD's Hypnotize and Mesmerize. I think the large gap in time between the two nixed the initial idea).



https://www.pastemagazine.com/music/modest-mouse/modest-mouse-interview-june-2026

Album Rating: 3.5

so happy that other folks on this site acknowledge We Were Dead is great



I hope I like this one

Album Rating: 4.0

In all this WWD love I’m not seeing appreciation for Education and Fly Trapped in a Jar. Both classics imo

Album Rating: 4.0

I hadn’t noticed but the people really noticed that they really don’t want us around SO NOT A SINGLE ONE OF US WOULD EVER LEAVE TOWN



Not to mention two of the albums bsides- King Rat and The Whale Song are essentials

Album Rating: 4.0

Education- “Our instincts they were cringing about how we lived our lives/It didn’t seem we’d lived enough to even get to die/All these dense distractions so beautifully complex/Well, I love life’s surprises so much I don’t want to know what’s ahead” - one of my favorite lyrics from WWD /unapologetic triple post

Third Side of the Moon may be one of my favorite songs from them period. Really reminds me of the obvious comparison to Moon and Antarctica, but it also gives some Lonesome Crowded West feels, too.

Album Rating: 3.5

"so happy that other folks on this site acknowledge We Were Dead is great"

yep, went into it a bit skeptical, but after repeated listens I can also confirm it's a treat

hang on, so this is, actually okay then? Hmm, I was sceptical to the point of disregarding this album's existence but my curiosity may now be piqued

Album Rating: 3.5

It's hard not to be skeptical given their recent track record. However, it is an honest-to-god good Modest Mouse album. I listened through it again yesterday and it breezes by. Even the annoying tracks are more tolerable when listened in full. Songs like "Rotten Fruit" and "Absolutely Necessary Never" have gotten better on repeated listens. Like I mentioned in the review (and Brock brings up in his interview with Paste), the biggest change from Golden Casket to this is that they know when to restrain things and to not overplay their hand.

Album Rating: 4.0

Rotten Fruit is growing on me too

Album Rating: 3.5

Solid vibes here, feels good man



Yes King Rat and Whale Song are essential and Fly Trapped in a Jar is probably the last MM song I really loved

Album Rating: 4.5

I'm still kind of shocked by the fact that this is genuinely great

Album Rating: 4.0

Oooooh I like this

Album Rating: 4.0

Damn I still need to give this a second listen. I feel ashamed to call myself a Modest Mouse fan.

Album Rating: 4.0

Need to slap a rating on this bitch but committing to 3 more listens first.

Album Rating: 3.5

I think if I had digested this over the course of a week I may have rated it higher. But I feel like the ratings for MM albums are pretty important because there are tiers of greatness that this band has produced over time.