Reviews (page 2 of 8)
Compared to Dummy's late night intrigue, 'Third' is like Dante meets Bosch in a crack lounge. Anxiety is an overriding feature of all Portishead albums, but on Third, the warmer tones are done away with for motorik beats and sparser arrangements. Portishead were inspired by John Carpenter soundtracks, and Halloween definitely feels an influence on 'Silence'. Even the Portuguese spoken intro sounds like a vintage horror movie. Only matched in grandeur by the baleful 'Threads' which closes the album - it's like Dummy but with a disturbing nuclear-siren-like drone (hence the song title maybe), that repeats at the end (Black Sabbath style meets horror-movie style). It's not a massive departure from their previous albums but feels more daring in the dispassionate arrangements. Not always an easy listen, but fascinating and unsettling.
Love this album, not my absolute favourite portishead one but its strong
Like this, sorry to have missed first time around
Day970 - for the life of me i never would have guessed more than one portishead album. inventive and challenging is an understatement
Amazing album. Hard to choose their best when all three are near perfect
Jammy & delightful. Old mates deserve 2 albums. Far enough apart in both years and vibes.
Weird, dull, and somehow still a little whiny. I can appreciate that Portishead were doing something distinctive here, but I spent most of the album waiting for something to actually happen. 2.5 stars, rounded down because I simply cannot do weird for weird’s sake.
Fucking hated this.
Haunting and beautiful.
I like the unsettling dystopian vibe.
Love the vision, not sure I love the execution Best Song: The Rip Rating: 4.5/10 Stars: 2
Not really my style
I never really got into Portishead and this album didn’t fit my mood at all, but it’s good. I’ll def listen to them more from now on.
Portisheadil on paremaid albumeid. Mõni lugu jäi meelde, aga vahepeal hakkasid vokaalid ikka häirima. Pigem pole nii meeldejäävaid mixe siin. 2.9/5
Fairly dull album today. Not bad really, just nothing exciting about it, and not sure it's a must listen to album.
Pretty good album. I loved their earlier work when I was in college majoring in cannabis smoking. My friend and I would listen to it on repeat talking about "deep stuff". Brings back lots of fond memories of getting high instead of going to class like I should have.
I mean, it doesn't strike me as great. I don't care for her vocal colour. I think her vocals are too forward in the mix. The sort of dark repetitive, trancey vibe is alright, but not quite my vibe. It has like a late-80s feel to much of it. I'm sort of undecided, but also don't think I'll come back to it. Part of it reminds me of Minski, who I really like, but somehow this just isn't getting there for me. Like Minski and Kate Bush. Plastic is a cool song. Really don't like Deep Water. Machine Gun sucks too, and I like a lot of really discordant music. Magic Doors is nearly unlistenable.
this was grim
After about 7 hours of this repetitive bastardization and dilution of NIN, Echo and the Bunnymen, and New Order I checked assuming it must be nearly finished. I wasn’t quite halfway through. Absolute shit.
Nothing has sounded like this and nothing sounded like it before. Over their three albums their sound really expands and becomes very fascinating and I want another album from them. This is also a good album for Feeling True Despair.
I love this album. Feels lukewarm this inspired lots of mournful indie singers of today (Mitski, The Japanese House).
Creepy and moody in a way that tickled my brain. There aren't hooks or earworms, but definitely has a vibe I can listen to again.
There is nothing like Portishead
Very chill and listenable.
Bruh no! What is this? Not my Idea of Electronica Hard pass
I did like Dummy initially, I bought it and I played it to death. Then I got sick of it. The singing style is unique and it's a bit Marmite. It's a bit whingy and there's only so much one can bear of it. Indeed in 'the rip' there's a constant 'ooooooo' that literally ruins the song. The music is creative, inventive, fun and interesting*. But the wailing is infuriating. * Only sometimes.
Overall Rating - 2.91/5 (5.82/10). Most of the album is unsettling (but not necessarily in a bad way). All in all, weird and environmental.
This isn't what I want to hear from Portishead. However, I'm not necessarily complaining about what I'm hearing; it was just kind counter to my expectations. This was pretty cool, definitely weird, and I think it would have been surprising even absent my expectations. Sort of Bjorkish, but having only taken the best parts of her music. Also, some Jefferson Airplane vibes toward the end of the album. Not sure what to call this type of music. Waify Industrial? Sad Pixie Matrix Sludge? Either way, not bad, nor excellent ⭐⭐.75
Meh
I don’t get the appeal. I can sort of see that I might like them if I first discovered them while a freshman in college. But other than that, no.
love love love
Third... a beautiful nightmare. I don't know that I'd ever come back to this except for the purpose of gradually inducing some kind of anxiety disorder. Every song, individually, is good at minimum. And as a complete 50-minute piece of art, it's extremely cohesive. It also gives me the heebie-jeebies. Pretty high tension created with seemingly few instruments in the opener, Silence. Lots of contrasting pitches, from the low, rumbling bass and lead guitar to the high, hovering, omnipresent strings. For over two minutes, we're starved of a vocalist (excluding the guy talking in Portuguese at the beginning – translation: "Be mindful of the Rule of Three / What you give will return to you / This lesson you must learn / You only get what you deserve). Though the lead singer's voice follows a strange, off-kilter melody, you can clearly tell she's singing every note carefully and deliberately. A fantastic start to an album that, at this point, is a complete mystery to me. Hunter continues that same unnerving mood that made Silence so great. But add timpani and a bell tree to the mix and you have a pretty distinctive atmosphere. The mood really gets switched up a couple songs later, in The Rip. Turns out backing vocals make a ton of difference. And now the music is making me feel (vaguely) hopeful instead of depressed. Nice. That slow build-up to include melodic synths, light percussion... it's, well, fantastic. Radiohead-esque, too. Plastic continues the synth-heavy portion of the album with a tune that, frankly, has nothing to do with plastic. Unless the helicoptery noise is supposed to be the lead singer waving a floppy sheet of plastic around in front of the mic. The song's outro reads like doom-electronic (if such a genre exists). We Carry On is a little texturally and melodically repetitive considering its hefty length (6:27 calls for some level of progression, I think), but man, Portishead just do not let up on that strange, indescribably weird mood. Although as I type that, Deep Water – a singer-songwriter tune featuring just vocals and a ukulele – plays. Out of context, a neutral (even happy) little tune about positivity and perseverance. But context is key – particularly as it's followed by the ultra-harsh Machine Gun, where the entire intro section consists of that angelic lead-slash-backing vocal coupled with a brutalist-sounding low synth/percussion thing. A gorgeous high synth joins the mix in the outro, completely selling the song for me. The track Small stresses me out. Like the rest of the album, I guess. A sort of extended instrumental, with the vocals playing a more background-ish role. I love sudden song transitions (or anything that isn't a board fade, for that matter), and hence approve of Small -> Magic Doors. Speaking of Magic Doors, that song remains pretty standard (including solid but unassuming piano chords) until whatever nonsense happens at the 2:20 mark. Like a cross between an orchestra tuning up and a frightened baby elephant. Yet another good transition brings us to the dark, sombre closer, Threads. Doomier than any of the others thus far, and that synth outro gives me chills. 4/5 Key tracks: Silence, The Rip, Machine Gun
This is album 1001, and even though it’s not the actual final album, it is an important milestone, and I am thrilled that it’s a great listen. I’m also thrilled it’s not another 70s rock album. Also, in a little bit of weirdness, I literally listened to this *last night*, so my notes will be a little bit of an amalgamation between my feelings during last night’s listen and this morning’s. First, I adore Portishead. In fact, in my review of Dummy, I called it “perfection.” That album, and their second self-titled album, were in incredibly heavy rotation for me at a certain time of my (much younger) life, and bring back so many memories. I was desperate for Trip-Hop albums, desperate to hear sounds that made me feel the things that Beth’s voice made me feel, but alas, Portishead are one of a kind. Fast forward eleven years. Since Portishead last released an album, I had joined and left the military, lived in six different states, completed a lifelong dream of living in Los Angeles, started an IT career, met my wife, had a child, left my IT career, and moved away from Los Angeles, and California, completely. To say that I am a very different person with a very different life would be an understatement. So, I think I kind of missed this release. That’s not to say I never listened to it, I’m sure I did, but it didn’t stick like the others. Whether that’s because of the change in their sound (which I’ll get to), or my place in the world, or whether it’s because the way that we consume music had drastically changed, with iTunes and streaming, who can tell? But I didn’t breathe this album like I did the other two. So onto the review. It’s excellent. But full disclosure, it took me three listens to connect to it. There are a couple of reasons, I think. The first being that I expected it to be the same Portishead as I listened to on the first two albums. But as I sit here thinking about it, I write all of that stuff above (which I wrote before listening today) about how much my life and mindset and personality and location changed in the eleven years between albums. Why wouldn’t I think that the people in Portishead had changed just as much? And why wouldn’t that be reflected in their music? The second reason dovetails into the first. This album is really different! On the previous two albums there was a haunting quality to both the music and the vocals. But throughout, both music and vocals aligned perfectly in mood and tone. On this album, there is a dissonance between the vocals and music. The downtempo, Portishead feel, the haunting quality of the music and vocals are still there, but they are not aligned. They battle each other in a way that is not necessarily immediately obvious. You notice that something is “off,” but you can’t put your fingers on it. It’s like they’re telling the same story but the perspectives are different. Why is that disconcerting? Because usually the music and vocals of a song tell a story, and the listener interprets it in a way that is meaningful to them. But on this album, the listener gets the story two different ways. So whose perspective resonates? What interpretation moves you? How do you, the listener, interpret two stories at once? It’s almost like listening to two conversations at the same time, it’s overwhelming. At the end of my second listen, on the song Threads, it clicked. I battle my thoughts I find, I can't explain I've traveled so far But somehow feel the same I'm worn, tired of my mind I'm worn out, thinking of why I'm always so unsure The journey I spoke of above. No matter where I go, I’m always there. No matter how much I change, I’m always me. No matter how much I grow, I’m always so unsure that I’m doing the right thing, being the right kind of husband, being the best parent to my boys, being the best citizen of the world possible. Incredible album.
Super rhythmic, interesting timbres. I have no idea what any lyrics are!
Intere Vineland’s chill
Pre-listening: YES Post: hmm okay. for some reason i really like The Rip. Some other songs were also nice. But not as good as expected i guess. still not bad
Fine, kinda basic?
Portishead has a strange discography timeline. Looks like this came after about a 10 year hiatus and to date, this also appears to be their most recent studio album. Don't expect more of "Dummy" here, as this sound and vibe is a decent distance in the other direction. Very much darker in tone and more industrial/experimental in sound with its unique synthesizers and sometime abrupt track endings. For example, the foundation of "Machine Gun" is a steady and aggressive rhythm of mechanical sounding synths (like machine gun shots!) Beth Gibbons certainly hasn't lost a step here too, as her vocals translate nicely to the mysterious vibe that's curated here. I don't know if I'd call this "accessible", but you're gonna get out what you put in here.
Hef aldrei hlustað á þessa áður, en eftir að hafa hlustað á hana fjórum sinnum er mér efst í huga þakklæti fyrir það að þau ákváðu að halda áfram að gera tónlist. Djöfull er þetta frábært band.
not my cup of tea
Eh just noise
A little too dark and moody for me. The overall project I would describe as a muddy experience.
I'd not heard this Portishead album before. It's very different to the two I have heard and feels like more of a grower. I really enjoyed listening to it though
A good Portishead album, I still prefer Dummy and its more industrial tinged Trip Hop. I enjoyed ‘Hunter’ and ‘Nylon Smile’. Rating: 3.5/5 GEMV (11.08.2026)
Darkly disconcerting. Going into the listen-again heap.
this was amazing, some insane production, i don’t think there’s much of a drop in quality from Dummy on this, it was really good, machine gun was an insane song
The one Portishead album I didn't already know quite well. This is my thing. I believe their earlier albums deserve a place on the list more (and I probably like them a bit better). So, a harsh 4. Still an atmospheric, cinematic album.
really surprising album. really liked it and would recommend to others if they like depressed and weird trip pop.
Entrancing, dark, enigmatic. What a cool sound. Loved the vocals in particular. 4/5
I haven’t gotten Dummy on this list yet but it mores me to no end and had to make sure it was still boring for me before checking out Third. Yup, super uninteresting, even though I like a lot of downtempo albums it probably inspired (Music Has the Right to Children, Maxinquaye, Lotofire). Tracks like Plastic and Machine Gun bring a lot more distinct production styles to the table, the industrial sound that slowly settles more throughout the album is super compelling. The song, Small, even reminded me of early Swans songs where Jarboe would sing, which I really couldn’t imagine Portishead digging into. But that’s what I get for not judging their full picture. Wouldn’t be shocked if I felt it deserved a 5 after some more listens.
o primeiro do portishead que eu não achei horrível?? que evolução!! realmente os cara só precisavam sair do trip hop pra coisa toda melhorar, eh isso
começa com uma frase dum CAPOEIRISTA que dá aula em bristol. que porra é essa. graças a deus largaram o triphop, hein. esse eh mais puxado prum krautrock, um negócio mais experimental, sem perder a linha. tem umas guitarrinha bem massa, btw. eu gostei bastante!
Portishead is something. This album is one of the most.... What a voice....
Не мое((
something fresh after all that early rock slop. I liked Dummy way more, but it was a cool album regardless.
What an opening, so interesting and dynamic. I dont understand how someone could be bored by this album, every song is so different and interesting, I really enjoyed this experience and the emotions it brought. 4 stars.
I enjoyed this a lot. The latter half of the album is the best part beginning a few songs before Machine Gun and continuing the rest of the way. I am rating this a 4 but will come back before I finish the list.
It sure is nice on a technical level, but this is a soundtrack for nightmares. What a dreadful experience.
A breath of fresh air after the slog of British punk. And in many ways, this sounded unlike anything we've heard so far. The minor, eerie quality that pervades the album could be likened to maybe a couple of artists we've heard so fa, like Massive Attack perhaps. I liked how several times a melodic or rhythmic element was introduced in one part of a song, and then changes quality as the song enters a new section. "The Rip" is a good example of this and is a great song. The interesting production was definitely the main highlight for me, and although sometimes I felt that the production elements and the vocals were competing with each other instead of playing off of each other, I was mostly glad that they were both present. I'm feeling a strong 3
Masters of moody, murky minor key gloom. I mostly only know their first album. This album is from 14 years later, and is very much of a piece - which is not a criticism: this is (still) very good stuff. In fact, I'd have to actually go back and listen to the 1st album to be sure, but I wouldn't be surprised if I'd actually end up rating this one slightly higher than the first one. As I make my way through this album, it does gradually start to feel (as I seem to recall experiencing the 1st album) a bit oppressive; a little of this stuff goes a long way, and a whole album of it is a bit much (for me, anyway). Tempting to say, then, that, in that sense, the whole is less than the sum of its parts; best consumed in small doses? Or maybe I'm just not moody enough (or, conversely, perhaps I'm too susceptible to the moodiness - a gloom lightweight)? (Kind of like my consumption of beer -- one and done.) Anyway, this is an easy one for me to grade: 4 stars.
I was quite impressed with this album. I normally find Triphop boring, but they didn't limit themselves to that style. My interest was held throughout, thanks to interesting textures and moods. I appreciate that this album has a darker mood which is achieved not just through lyrics, but also with sound design and arrangement (as opposed to Nick Cave or Leonard Cohen). The drums are very nicely produced and so much more than a typical drum set. I'll take this style of percussion over the best drummer on a traditional drum set any day. They make good use of a wide variety of sounds through sampling and synthesizers too. I think the reason I can't give 5 stars is that rhythmically and harmonically these songs aren't very complex or exciting. In terms of texture and ambience it's a 5 for me
Beth Gibbons voice remains very impressive. Besides the Rip I didn't know this album, but I like the new direction they went on.
Instrumentals were super interesting. vocals grated on me a bit.
8/10
Portishead’s Third is one of the best examples of a reunion album breaking expectations. Beth Gibbons & co. are back in full force. Tracks like Machine Gun and Deep Water harken back to the heyday for the group.
Based on the album art, I thought it would be jazz. I was wrong. This was cool.
invented an entire new sound
When I saw the artist I questioned why I hadn't heard the album before. Then I heard the album and I understood why
I am not a fan of trip hop and this album moves away from that sound a bit. There's elements that remind me of 70s kraut rock which I do like. Not a great album but a pleasant surprise anyway
Interessante. Acredito não ser o melhor do Portishead, sendo o Dummy mais cultuado e lembrado, mas esse é legal. Tem umas experimentações doidonas, algumas dão certo, outras nem tanto, mas é bacanudo.
Nice chilled listen
It's been a while since I've listened to this. It's something I've noticed a lot, for better or worse… with lots, maybe most, of the albums here, I know at least enough to have a preconceived notion of the artist, or an idea of what the album might sound like, or its context, or something. Obviously for Portishead, this comes after giving “Dummy” my first 5 star rating of the project. “Third” is not “Dummy”. It is so not “Dummy” that my first listen was, memorably for me, not positive. The whole texture of the album is different. Less lush, less orchestral. Even Beth's voice aches in a different way, has less of that smokiness and yearning. Probably its best bits are more spare (The Rip, for example, works by having so much breathing room… so, for that matter, does Small). The harder parts are like the harsher sounds of Machine Gun. It's just… not what I hope from from Portishead. Beth brings her game as ever, but the music she is singing over is less suited to her voice. With Geoff leaning more into the experimentation than the orchestration, it's the places where he isn't doing too much futzing around where the light shines in. It's definitely not bad, but it's not anywhere near what the band makes me want. A middle-⭐️⭐️⭐️
(10/10) A life changing album. Words do not describe what's within.
nah didn't like that
Bit weird, but I kinda of like it.
Electronic/Experimental Rock Favorite Songs: The Rip, We Carry On, Deep Water, Machine Gun, Small, Magic Doors Least Favorite Song: Silence (But that’s only because the song was intentionally cut off at the end, to which I wasn’t a fan of) I was planning on listening to Portishead’s first album before listening to this one, and if this is generally the style that they’re going for with this album, then I should be even more excited when I listened to the first one. I really loved the synths that had that 60’s vibe to it, as it adds a layer of what I might best describe as dread into the tracks. This album’s a keeper for me. 8/10
No words. Just wow
No standouts
I'm not sure I've listened to this before, even though I was a fan of their first two albums. Didn't immediately grab me, but probably need to sit with it.
2.8.
It’s decent, but not near the levels of ‘Dummy’, their debut. We get the same trip-hop style as that album, but the slowness of this feels much more purposeful and successfully atmospheric than other artists of the type that just end up boring me. On the whole though, I’m not sure this fully gets going as it might have. As soon as we get towards one sound idea it seems to be on to the next, and that probably contributes to the lack of a classic track here, in contrast to the handful provided by the debut.
After helping develop the trip hop genre on their excellent debut Dummy and self-titled second album, Portishead take a left turn on their third release. On those prior albums, Portishead created a dense film-noir like atmosphere, combining elements of jazz, film soundtracks and hip hop beats, all held together by Beth Gibbons' soulful and sometimes haunting vocals. On this album, this is replaced by a more stark and minimalist, post-punk-influenced sound, but one that turns out to be just as fitting for Gibbons' vocals. Standouts are the opener 'Silence' 'The Rip' and the especially stark-sounding 'Machine Gun.'
Coming back from a long hiatus, Portishead took their music in a quite different direction for their first album in eleven years. The atmosphere is still dark and haunting on most tracks, but rather than trip-hop, the music here is much more influenced by post-punk, electronic and experimental rock, with a folky element to some tracks too. Both ‘The Rip’ and ‘Small’, for example, start off rather folky before becoming rockier halfway through. Those tracks are both album highlights, along with the opener ‘Silence’, ‘Hunter’, ‘Plastic’, and the incredibly cold/stark ‘Machine Gun’. Consistently high-quality without any clear standout tracks.
Not too bad. May need another listen.
A master class in alienating your entire fanbase with a single album. And I am *here* for it.
This is not quite what I expected.. feels like they wanted to move away from the Dummy days and try something more challenging z I hear Massive Attack at times which makes sense. Some of it feels like half-baked ideas though. Always interesting. 3.5
Neat vibes but vocals were questionable
This is really quite a dark and ominous album, and an interesting progression from some of their earlier stuff. At its best it’s incredibly atmospheric, with layered soundscapes and haunting vocals. Some tracks are superb (like The Rip for example) and are quite impactful. The kind of songs that force you to pay attention and give you a bit of a jolt. I get that a lot of it is quite anxiety inducing, but I do like the vibe and delivery on the whole. I don’t think this is as good as their earlier stuff though, and it CAN be pretty dour over 52 minutes. 3.5 rounded down.
I’ve heard this before and I own it. It’s been ages since I’ve listened to it to the point that I barely remember any of the songs. A number of songs are more uptempo than anything from their earlier work and feature guitar up front, but still manage to sound like Portishead. The ambience is still there on every song so it’s like they picked up where they left off ten years earlier.
An OK album not a patch on Dummy or album 2 but that’s no surprise
Sou suspeito pra falar de uma das minhas bandas favoritas de todos os tempos. Esse disco foi um retorno depois de mais de 10 anos sem material inédito e é o Portishead ainda mais experimental, sem deixar o lado soturno que carimba sua característica sonora. Amo!
There was an eerie tension to some of this, I just couldn’t get into it.
So the band takes a hiatus because they are uninterested in music and attempts at songwriting had failed, and after 11 years this is the album they come back with? I dunno. Not a terrible listen. And while Beth Gibbons singing is enjoyable, I’m much more likely to seek out better artists like Bjork, Siouxsie, Tori Amos, Kate Bush, etc. Third time’s a kinda charm at best.
Really liked the singers voice. She reminded me of a couple singers. One is Lisa Hannigan (obviously VERY different styles) but has that some emotion and inflection. Can sing soft but sound so big. There’s another one that I can’t put my finger on. I didn’t love some of the droning and a few moments of sounds that hurt my ears. Some of the switches were quite strange too. 3.0
Another reviewer commented this album sounds like their anxiety. I get that. And kind of like it. 3/5
Trip hop might not be for me personally. I liked some of the creativity here, and Machine Gun did stand out as a song, it wasn’t a pleasant hearing experience, nor do I think I got much out of the songs themselves even after reading more into the band and purpose. It might work for others, and I don’t regret listening, but it did not leave an impression on me. 10/1001
Not for me.
Such a unique album, really enjoyed it. I will definitely come back for this one. Favorite track(s) Hunter The Rip
Ok thought it'd be better never really listened to them before
Ominous dark and anxious. Nervous strings, drums like tapping your fingers in stress, ratcheting dissonance with rare relief, a singer like a voice in your head telling you things you don't want to hear, panic barely held back. The soundtrack to act 3 as everything falls apart.
Álbum bien potente, sonidos profundos, sensoriales, adelantados al sonido de aquel entonces incluso A la vez con la suavidad de la voz de la vocalista que es un toque muy elegante y balanceado Varias favoritas, pero We Carry On, Small y Machine Gun me parecen puntos fuertes del álbum La canción con ukulele baja revoluciones por un momento para luego seguir con incluso más ímpetu Me parece un excelente Comeback de parte del grupo después de 11 años de su último disco, un resultado muy interesante que entiendo (ya que tengo pendiente escuchar los dos álbumes anteriores), que dista mucho de lo que habían hecho antes y eso también se vale la verdad Muy contento de haber escuchado esta obra brillante, recomendada y reescuchable
I like this album. It’s not Dummy. But Dummy is a desert island album for me. I even like the crazy ends of songs they do a couple of times where it feels like things just got cut off. The whole album is a bit like being on a tilt a whirl. But it’s a fun ride. 4 Boolean: true
a big no, srry
Industrial Bjork. Some good moments, but I just don't vibrate at this frequency. I can see why others get really into it, though.
Was OK, doesn't compare to Dummy, but still a few great tracks. 'We Cary On' was my fav.
I understand from others that this is very good. Man, it is not my thing. Too trippy for me, dawg.
I wound up listening to this album across two different drives, from work to home and back. I tried finishing the album prior to that second drive, taking advantage of some extra time I had in the morning to lie down and listen with my eyes closed, but I wound up dozing off. Having now heard the rest of the album, I have no idea how I managed to fall asleep. I was all-in on this album mere seconds in, completely captivated by the disjointed conflict between the rapid percussion and the beeping electronic chirp. This song felt tonally similar to the opening track of Massive Attack's Blue Lines, but each album takes this starting point in a very different direction. Where Blue Lines moved into a kaleidoscopic collage of upbeat energy, Third moves downward into a deep ocean of melodrama and distortion: I love both of these approaches. All of the strange sound effects used for melodic lines satisfy the part of my brain which grew up on quirky EDM production, balancing these odd squeaks and chirps with haunting vocals. Speaking of the vocals, I spent the first few songs slowly recognizing the vocalist more and more, scratching my head to place exactly where I recognized her from, before it finally clicked: this is Beth Gibbons! I knew her from her feature on Kendrick Lamar's Mother I Sober, one of my favorite moments on an incredible album, but her voice sounds even more incredible in its natural soundscape here with Portishead. Her heart-achingly beautiful singing is the perfect grounding element against the constant bits of harsh industrialism that bubble up to the surface constantly throughout the album; the balance reminds me of other artists I love, such as Poe and Perfume Genius. Time and time again I realize that I have been underestimating the list, as it continues to introduce me to new bands and artists which feel tailor-made to burrow their way into my listening habits: Portishead is absolutely one such band. Highlights: Silence, Hunter, Nylon Smile, The Rip, Deep Water, Machine Gun, Small, Magic Doors, Threads
Quite interesting. Not at all what I expected. Enjoyed it
- More familiar with Portishead's name than their actual work. Apparently this is very atypical of their 90s style. - I like some of this intellectually, particularly the inspirations and a few of the loops. However, otherwise I found this to all be a bunch of takes on the same morose flavor. - Considering my favorite track was the slight, ukulele-focused "Deep Water", I think it is safe to say that I was having difficulty connecting on a deep level.
I like this. It’s brooding and joyful, dark and lightish. Trippy and alt popish. Best to listen to while on drugs
2.5+/5
really slow and trippy, the guitar bends at the end were a nice touch to leave you unsettled still think i like Glorybox better
V. Good. Very blur/blur Essex dogs. Strange news.
esse aqui é top, bem experimental
Beth Gibbons!!! Oh em gee, get freaking pumped!!! Trip hop is a genre I would expect myself to like more than I actually do. On most other albums in the genre I find that the singers tend to be the largest fault, doing not much more than trying to sound ethereal. I would point to Thom Yorke as an example of this, he’s a great singer, one of my favs, but on most of the band’s attempts at trip hop he comes off as entirely uninterested, a stylistic choice for sure. Beth Gibbons is not that, she’s fucking fantastic. She has this folksy voice that simultaneously sells the sorrow of her lyrics while riding the fuck out of the beat. Instrumentally I find a lot of trip hop too close to IDM that it kinda breaks my heart when it’s not that. I think Portishead escapes from this really well by going for some more post-rock influences. 4/5 da album has great vibes :)
Came across as though they just wanted to make their own version of "The Downward Spiral". I'm not a fan of the NIN record and this one is no different.
Reunited and it feels so…BAD!!! Really, they should have stayed on hiatus. Anytime the backing tracks threaten to get interesting (which actually does happen reasonably frequently), the proceedings are invariably derailed by the wispy, tuneless warbling of the “singer“. This is like the vocal equivalent of the waif look. For all of our sakes, let’s hope there was not a Portishead Fourth.
They are actually pretty good generally. This one definitely didn't do it for me. I feel like they think they're better and more artistic than they are. I just get a self-important vibe that I can't really shake.
Didn't do much for me.
less complex than their earlier albums, with fewer sonic components but each one carefully crafted for maximum impact and spookiness
Decent enough but nowhere near as compelling as Dummy 3.5*
A sad album, slightly disturbing. We Carry On is the first song I wished to note, while others were not poor in quality they made me feel disturbed. Cruel by Public Memory came in after the album and is the immediately much more relaxing from the whole album
awesome - also listened to dummy per ford's recommendation
This is #day698 of my #1001albumsyoumusthearbeforeyoudie challenge, and… it's definitely interesting to see this record on the list. There was a time, some ten years ago or so, when I played it a lot. I like to think of it as Portishead's Radiohead record. I can hear bits of "Reckoner" in "Hunter," while "Machine Gun" echoes "Idioteque." But it's more than that. Third is the band deconstructing itself. The atmosphere permeating this record is something else: anxious, dreadful, formidable, and at times somber. I'm not sure you must hear it before you die, but it's definitely worth checking out if you're into some wicked, fucked-up shit. This is a 4 out of 5. Looking forward to #day699.
There is something magical about how they pull this style off. Dark, but utterly seductive. Full of sharp twists, yet oh so cohesive.
Their first two albums were hardly happy go lucky pop but this takes it into a much grungy, industrial, super-bleak place! Yikes
For something that sometimes borders on ambient, it grooves. Portishead has been a big discovery for me in these 10001 albums
I don't know why I like Portishead, but I do. Not as good as Dummy, but still pretty good.
Nice
A strange, slightly ghoulish album that nonetheless impresses with its twists, turns, ruminations on life, etc.
If you are looking for something upbeat and soothing, you came to the wrong place. This album is on the edge and it will take you there. Artsy and interesting, but hard to digest.
I like Portishead, but I found this a bit boring.
Me encanta, es hermoso este disco
Love me some Portishead 4/5
This was really cool. Vibes of Bjork, Muse, Garbage and maybe a couple other really stand-out acts with their own sound. I really enjoyed the creepy, haunting industrial vibes and really well-produced music that sounds like almost no one else. I listened to it three times and almost went for a fourth. Five stars easily.
Strange feeling, but in a compelling way. Don't always love the vocals, but I enjoy the complex and unusual instrumentation. I heard Machine Gun and realized that "You Belong To The World" sampled it.
I liked the instrumentation, but not always the lead vocalists voice
Not a fan of her stylistic choices
Eh...no. Atonal, arrythmic, with vocals that remind me of all the things I don't like about Kate Bush. There are a few moments I enjoy, but not nearly enough of them to overcome the noise.
Pretty impressive to reinvent themselves from their earlier work. I found this more interesting than the trip hop on the first album.
3.5 I kinda got it to this. We Carry On was pretty dope except for the bridge part.
Der kalte, zerfranste Sound ist spannend, Beth Gibbons klingt wie ein Gespenst im Nebel – aber vieles bleibt für mich eher Kopfmusik als etwas, das hängenbleibt.
Interesting... but not cool, somehow.
9/10
If Portishead's first album could be described as a James Bond soundtrack, then the third (and, frankly, likely the last) is more in the vein of a John Carpenter film. Only Beth Gibbons' vocals evoke the melancholic, soothing past; the rest of the album doesn't let you relax — it frequently breaks the rhythm, sounds like mechanical krautrock, and is simply frightening. Considering that Third was released eleven years after the previous album, fans were expecting something more familiar and were disappointed. But here's the paradox: listening to it, you feel as if the creators of trip-hop are killing their creation, only to have it reborn right here, before your eyes. A struggle of opposites, simultaneously rough and soft, simple and profound. A very, very strong four stars.
I gotta say, this is cutting it real close to be on par with Dummy by Portishead. But I still think dummy is more interesting.
I had higher hopes. Sad movie music is the best way I can describe it. It had moments.
Pretty good but forgettable. Not as good as their album "Dummy" but still decent. I think for me it's a modest 4/10
Pretty good background music for whatever.
Sympa mais pas emballée non plus
This album is a real gem, completing a hat trick of masterpieces
Wonderful album, up there with their 90s output.
New to me and super stuff, towards the top of the 2 stars. Tom.
Oh no, I didn't like the first one of these. Why are there two? This right here is a band whose aesthetic ruins their style. They're too committed to some 'goth, theater kid who acts depressed as a fashion statement' kind of thing. Beyond that, they're good. But it's just so overbearing that it's hard to get past. This album is somewhat more interesting than the last one. I like the surprise shifts in texture and tempo. I like the little electronic touches being thrown in here and there (and then disappearing never to be seen or heard from again). I do really like the instrumentals but still can't deal with the vocals. Just sounds like someone whining with a piercing, warbling quality. Sorry (I guess), this voice just hits my brain and makes me wince (and then rage). I just want her to shut up so I can enjoy the music, but she doesn't. Her voice is so painful; my god why. Stand-out track(s): Hunter, Machine Gun, Small (when the vocalist isn't ruining them).
Just not into Portishead. 2.5 rounded up
2.75 / 5 stars for this album. I'm really not sure what Portishead was doing with this album, and maybe they didn't either? After the brilliant Dummy (why isn't that here instead?!?!), this album comes along and it's a mashup of varying styles and annoying sounds. It's like they're trying to be a completely different band than what worked for them in 1994. Not terrible, but definitely not something I'd ever want to hear again.
Another 2.. Why. Why was this on here.
Yikes… not feeling this today. Sounds like someone in a cardigan whining about putting 2% milk in their coffee instead of soy milk.
Super weird, and kept my interest too. I liked it, but the tone is bleak enough it probably wouldn’t be a regular play for me. 7/10 Quite Likeable
I’m still not sure what to think about this album, but I think I enjoyed it.
Why do artists choose to make horrible music, and why do you include them in your list?
Fuck this shit.
Bailed after 4.5 tracks. Gave me a headache
It's alright...feels overly long for a 49-minute album. We already got "Dummy" on the list - this wasn't totally necessary, IMO.
Really annoying voice. Couldn't get through it
Less boring than Portishead's other offerings. Other reviews say this is spooky and uncomfortable, all that I can say is that it's impossible to imagine listening to this for pleasure. I did say that their other album on this list, Dummy, was full of tracks which were used as bedding in TV and radio, something that Third runs no risk of. However, Third is still not great, and its inclusion on this list means that Portishead has two-thirds of their discography represented.
‘Dummy’ set the scene. ‘Blue Lines’ but more organic and with Beth’s aching voice the most powerful emotional layer. Follow up ‘Portishead’ added more drama and intensity musically, Beth still providing that core. So where would Third go? It seemed for so long like it might never happen. Determined not to repeat themselves they took their time. Doing this 1001 thing, I discovered that the production job Adrian and Geoff did on The Coral’s 4th album provided them with the inspiration and determination to finish the job. ‘Third’ is the most out there of their albums. It embraces production and arrangement choices that are determinedly not the obvious ones. It’s a new context for Beth’s voice but, probably unsurprisingly, it fits. It could simply be that I have found it more difficult than the others to get deep into, but I feel like this album will keep giving more to me with every listen. It may also end up my favourite, but for now it can’t quite earn that title.
Like listening to a decoder ring work for 54 minutes to spell out the words, “you need more meds!” Yet, I was tempted to take some meds and give it another listen. Despite the high bar for likability, I think there is something there, it just seems like you need to enter cautiously, like immersion therapy.
Album sublime, tout ce qui me tappait sur les nerfs avec le vieux Portishead est absent. Rien d'over-sensible cheesy qui tanne aussi vite que ça accroche.
C'était bien bon. Mais peut-être un petit peu lourd? 3.49 étoiles
There's something about the '90s trip-hop scene (of which Dummy reigns over) that often tends to leave me satisfied, yet not fulfilled. For the most part it's interesting but I don't love it. This feels like the band reaching through the screen to tell me, "we understand and we're not done yet" It feels deeper, more strange, and more compelling all at once, like Portishead is affirming that they're visionary experimentalists at heart and they're not ready to let go of that, and I'm all the more thankful for it It's not quite a 5, but with the highs on the album, ranging from the magical electronic swells of "The Rip" to the one-of-a-kind, gritty and aptly named beat of "Machine Gun", it reaches to heights very close
Gear: ZMF Auteur Classic LTD Shedua Artwork: 🅿️3️⃣🟦 Production: ♨️🥾💦 Music: 🔮💀🖤 Rating: 🌑🌑🌑🌑🌑/5
Eh. It's not bad, but it never got to a point where I can say I truly enjoyed it. Glad to have heard it once, but not my jam. 3.1
7/10… trip hop / dark pop / *2008
After how much I loved Dummy, I had been disappointed by their self-titled album in 1997 and was disappointed again when this came out in 2008. A couple of the songs on this album could have been the weakest track on Dummy, but wouldn't have been totally out of place on it, but most of these songs veer away completely from the things I loved about the band's first album. I guess they were different people with different musical leanings when they made this and so they didn't want to make chilled out, slightly funky smooth music. But I really like chilled out, slightly funky smooth music, which is why I liked their debut so much. This album has moments when you can hear the things I like about the group shining through, but it mostly just makes me anxious. I may be judging Third more harshly than I would otherwise because of how much I still enjoy Dummy, but thems the breaks Portishead. Go pull out your old Isaac Hayes records, find some funky but smooth samples, and give me what I want.
I found this very boring and not particularly good, but not bad enough for a 2.
If you have never listened to Portishead (I had not), do NOT listen to this album first. It is ONLY for people who 1) already like Portishead and 2) are willing to listen to the album at least three times to let it “grow on them.” If you have not listened to Portishead before, go to Dummy as your first exposure. Guaranteed that if you do not like that, you will HATE this one. I started listening to this and it seemed that it was mostly hurting my ears, but every once in a while there was a flash of genius. So I went to Dummy and then listened to Third a few times. Third is really experimental and it is work to listen to it (and try to appreciate it). I am glad I listened to it (but more glad that it prompted me to listen to Dummy which is actually GOOD), but would not recommend it to anyone. On the other hand, it does get better everytime I listen to it - I could see how someone might even rank this as 5 stars after listening to it enough times. Hard for me to know what to put down here - after three listens, it has gone from 1 star to 2 stars... So I am just putting down 2 stars and thinking I might come back and rerate if I keep listening to it. Best songs: The Rip, Machine Gun, Magic Doors, Threads. EDIT, one month later: Alright, if you listen to an album ten times in a month, it MUST be better than 2 stars! I still say that if you are new to Portishead, you should NOT start with this album. But it is really good - upping it to 3 stars (but really wondering if it should get 4).
With the electronic accompanying music and the horribly irritating vocalist, this is worse than anything Radiohead ever recorded. I read there was a big hiatus for this band during which one member lost interest in music before recording this tragedy - apparently he never regained it.
I’m late to Portishead but so far I love what I hear 😊
The off-kilter melodies and experimental song structures throughout the album are tied down with some of the best production and sound design I've ever heard. Probably a weird place to start with their discography but I'm very interested now to check out their earlier work. Favourites: Silence, The Rip, We Carry On, Machine Gun
This Portishead album is rough. I love their Dummy album, but this album was a struggle
Mi aspettavo di più, non mi ha entusiasmato
It's certainly not a pretty album. It's creepy and unsettling in places, which isn't a bad thing. Third is definitely an original sounding album. Overall, I like the minimalism. Liked Songs Added: Silence
Det var ret fedt! Stemnings mættet, tungt, og ømt på den fede måde.
Det er ret imponerende at have 2 albums på listen når man kun har udgivet 3 albums i hele sin karriere. Hvor Portishead i 90erne var banebrydende medskabere af Trip Hop, så er de 11 år efter deres senest album tilbage med en helt anden lyd. Det er stadig elektronisk, men også post-punket, krautrocket og filmisk i sit udtryk. Væk er scratching og de klassiske Hip Hop bests. Nu er lyden intenst kuldegysende. Kun Beth Gibbons stemme trækker tråde tilbage til de tidligere albums. Denne gang lyder hun mere forpint end nogenside før.
This album is great if you don't like music.
Wasn't really for me
J'avais jamais écouté cet album.
J'avoue que j'y allais à reculons... je suis pas toujours dans le mood trip-hop. Mais wow, ces musiciens là sont vraiment talentueux. Et puisent dans un répertoire extrêmement large. Il y a des parties hard rock (guits disto avec un tone plutôt le fun), des parties groovy qui vont même jusqu'à me faire penser à The Doors, de l'électro-acoustique, une toune de ukulele folk qui détonne franchement avec le ton général de l'album MAIS avec des harmonies vraiment spaces dans les fins de phrase qui fait que ça passe. La voix de la chanteuse est superbe, je me répète comme dans Dummy.
Plus glauque et dark encore que dummy? Ça me parle
Judging by the reviews here, I'm not the only person who didn't really keep up with Portishead post-Dummy. This was my first time listening to Third, but I don't think it will be my last.
this was interesting, very little words and soft? yet loud?
Interested in listening to this group for some time now as its usually grouped with a lot of other similar artists I've already heard. Unfortunate I've listened to their final album before the first two but it was still nice. Might have skipped a few songs around the end but oh well, I'll listen to it again probably. I liked the elements of prog in this one on some of the songs.
Many people know Portishead, but usually they only know songs of the first two albums and not much of the third one even though the album was critically acclaimed - and rightly so! It's an album that goes away from the trip hop (a name the band didn't like anyway) into a wider mix of electronica, acoustic music, industrial and so on. Beth Gibbons haunting vocals give a good counterpoint to all of the heavy music and that's the irritating fascination in the music. The album starts great, but the last four tracks are the gems of this album. Special shout out to "Deep Water" which is a good break from all the heavy stuff by leaning into Hawaiian music.
Good but not their best album
Excited to finally listen to this band - I've heard of them but never actually listened to their music. I liked a lot of this. We Carry On was creepy and amazing, but I felt like the songs afterward weren't as strong until the album closer, which I also liked. I need to listen to more from this band.
Grim, bleak, and moody. As Beautiful as ever. I love Portishead.
Maestros de la melancolía oscura
It's been two years since I listened to Dummy, and I recognized how much of a trip-hop classic that album was. Going into this record, however, made me realize two important aspects about Portishead. First, this group only records and puts out material when its members feel inspired to, which is why there was a decade-plus gap between their self-titled record and Third, and there hasn't been another since. Second, this band does not like to stay in one lane. Thus, with Third, Portishead largely foregoes the trip-hop sound of their earlier material in favor of an experimental, sample-based, smoldering krautrock sound. As someone who's enjoyed a good deal of sample-based music and krautrock on their album journey, I was on board with this. There is an abrasive, cinematic feel with the mixture of analog synthesizers, eclectic samples, Geoff Barrow's muffled mechanical drums, and Adrian Utley's strikingly jagged guitar riffs. The drum loop buildup of "Silence" that's abruptly cut into the lush, spacious acoustic strums of "Hunter" that give way to dense droning, the cold, delayed guitar effects that spiral around the mix in "Nylon Smile", the transition from a slow-burning folk piece into a downtrodden electronic bass loop on "The Rip", the rattling percussive noise opposite the eerie clarinet in the background of "Plastic", that relentless beat paired with the menacing guitar riff on "We Carry On", followed by an even more intensely pummeling rhythm on "Machine Gun"; there is a genuinely menacing atmosphere worked throughout this record. Very little reprieve can be found here, as even the jaunty ukulele interlude "Deep Water" and the slight return to a trip-hop sound on the closing track "Threads" have this markedly claustrophobic feel to their presentation. Even a cowbell can sound brooding on the melancholic art rock sway of "Magic Doors". I cannot deny how gripping and creative these abrasive experiments are laid bare, with such impeccable production from the band. The only aspect of Third that retains anything close to what came before is Beth Gibbons's vocals. She gave such an impressively haunting delivery throughout, as her lyrics reflect the mental struggle and frailty to match these spellbinding compositions. I can believe her cyclical view of relationships on "Hunter", her nervous breakdown on "Nylon Smile", her helplessness in the continued existence on "Plastic", and her fragile clinging to life on "We Carry On" and "Deep Water". Closing out with the full-blown uncertainty on "Threads" is quite the note to go out on. I knew Beth was an amazing voice from Dummy, but this feels even more theatrical with the musical palette here. Yeah, I do consider Third to be an astounding record. Portishead dug deeper to create a sinister yet commanding experimental album. They grew out of the trip-hop label with mastery.
It's Portishead, it's Beth Gibbons, but a bit different compared with their earlier works. This one has their usual somber and haunting feel, but there are some other tracks that almost feel like they don't fit, just based on sequencing and portrayal. This is one I'll need to sit with again, but it doesn't grab me like their previous records. It's still Portishead though, and still has quality.
Man are they good at towing the line between creepy and sexy
It feels pretty cheap to rate the intentionally-anxiety inducing album poorly because it succeeded in making me freak out. With that said, I probably wasn't in the mood to listen to gorgeous vocals crooning over spacey art house hip hop noise. I'll be in that mood at some point, and when I am I'll throw this on (or just take a nap instead.)
A change in sound for Portishead that I thought was great. Not every track hits, but those that do are so good. Although, this was the first listen in quite a while and I liked it less than I used to! 3.5 rounded up Heard before? Yes Owned: Yes. 79/310 (25%) Will I get: Already have
I want to like Portishead more than I actually do. I think there isn't quite enough melody here for me to love it, but I'm fine with it in general.
Oh Jesus, I hated this. Like, I get what they thought they were doing. But it was truly unpleasant to listen to. Miss the original style. This was aggressively not that.
Great voice and music is a bit different. Indie. Didn't mind it, just wasn't my type of music.
i just don't get it. conceptually, at least. it sounds nice and i really appreciate them leaving trip hop behind. but it's still sparse and sounds unfinished to me. deserves to be one of the 1001? i think my personal takes on this album are secondary because clearly the people love this one. i remember this was the top of 2008 when i joined RYM and despite not being all that relevant, it still gets a lot of love on the off chance it's brought up. sure, leave it on. its earned it.
Wasn’t for me I was able to take a song or two but I’m probably not gonna remember this album in T -3 days yup already forgot
I find a lot of this really hard to get through. "We Carry On" was a highlight. There were many lowlights.
Another disappointing album from Portishead. “We Carry On” was a bright spot but was immediately negated by “Deep Water”.
Middle of the road
Too weird for me.
Quite interesting
Not really listened to this before and wasn’t sure as it started but about half way through I really got it. One to listen to a few times I reckon
Far from being my preferred Portishead album, it's still something that I will listen with pleasure albeit not very frequently.
ta chivo
My rating 2.8. This didn’t need to be on this list.
Really liked it at the beginning. But they added certain sounds that my ears definitely did not like
Darn it. Gave this a good writeup in the wrong place... essentially I find the weird lounge smoky underground club vibe fascinating and have pretty much always liked Portishead. I figure they are going to be too weird for a lot of people, but I am not one of them!
Not exactly the album you would want to listen to during a workout, and overall not as good as “Dummy.“ But still sort of interesting, and far from the worst album we’ve heard on this journey.
You never forget your first one; however, having listened to some truly awful albums since, I find this one is only bad.
From the first notes I can tell this is going to be an interesting listen. I like the switches in style, genre and tone. Appreciate the vocals and the scale of the album too. This'll never be in heavy rotation for me, but the ambition of the album is great.
Listened to this the way it was meant to be listened to (as background noise while reading cyberpunk). I didn't enjoy it but it was certainly a vibe.
3.5/5
Enjoyed this, with some caveats. They know their way around percussive and electronic sounds, and there’s some variation if you take the album as a whole. But each song sort of stands on its own and can get quite repetitive, and overdone. So many tracks I think could benefit from looping off 30-45 seconds, but I guess the point is to lock you in to a certain atmosphere/sound. The vocals also come across a bit indulgent at times. So I think it’s good but overdone, pared back a bit it could be better.
Interesting album as it combines a typical genre and overlays some electronic effects. I am sure some will hate the comparison, but there are Radiohead vibes with this at times. They are not attempting to make something easy to absorb, and the electronic effects are by design to extend the depth and impact of the sound. "Machine Gun" for example is quite haunting with the quite literally machine gun / drill like sound. It's quite waring for this reason as often these effects they draw upon for effect can become repetitive. No major problem with this, but other examples out there that do this infinitely better. Positive discrimination on the basis of a niche artist in a small pond or something is my guess. Certainly different. Dont worry Porti head is no Radio head!
My gut reaction was that the vocals sound affected and over dramatic. As the album progressed, I found them more and more irritating. I suspect that there was a depth in the lyrics that I was missing, but I found my mind wandering. There were a few glimmers of interest here and there, when the music would cresendo and create something with more depth. Then this would tend to repeat continuously for long enough to get boring. Overall I just found the music dull and the vocals annoying.
Very intense. Almost too much so!
Very different from Dummy but still a great album. I struggled on some of the tracks but others are great and pretty sure I will listen again.
This album has always struggled in their legacy that ‘it’s just not Dummy’. Which let’s face it was impossible to follow. I was guilty of that, and listening again now, this really is a great album. While keeping that Portishead sinister beauty, it did deliberately go in a different direction, ditching the trip hop for a kinda folky kinda krautrocky industrial thing. Very brave, and it rather heralds the direction which Geoff Barrow went off in with the excellent Beak>.
Good album. Crazy techno. Fav songs; Plastic, We Carry On, Hunter.
Me pasó de noche, pero una que otra rola bien
Pick a tempo and stick with it, please. Just when I settle into a track that seems like I might actually enjoy, Portishead abruptly changes gears. I’m not entirely convinced there’s much enjoyment to be found on this album when the band seems so intent on messing with its own listeners. If anxiety and unease were given physical form, they’d sound a lot like Portishead’s Third. Several songs on Third pulled me into a groove and had me ready for a smooth, mellow ride, only to suddenly slam on the brakes and veer in a completely different direction. More often than not, those shifts ruined whatever mood the song had built. And it’s frustrating because, at least to me, this album seemed to have a lot of potential. It was just wasted on whatever mushrooms the band decided to consume before laying down the final tracks. Listening to this album felt less like a rewarding experience and more like a form of musical torture.
While it's not horrible, I'm not a big fan of this. The vocals seem like they're coming from someone who just had a severe shock to their system and is visibly shaking from the experience. It has a cohesive somber and depressing vibe, but some of the instrumentation is just irritating and distracting in certain songs. I can't think of a situation in which I would reach for this album on purpose.... EVER.
Disappointing considering the brilliance of Dummy.
Despite being a huge fan of Dummy, I had not (somewhat surprisingly) listened to this before. It's quite different from Dummy, but amazing in its own right. Among other highlights i really liked the moment about half way through The Rip when the arpeggiated synth comes in. I feel like I might listen to this album obsessively over the next week or so.
Hmmm....I thought I liked Portishead. But this album? It's just OK. 2.5 stars
This was an interesting album with some unusual soundscapes and electronic instrumentation. I like the lead singers vocals and tone quality. Diverse and modern with some psychedelics.
You know what, at least this has some balls about it and tries to do something a bit different. I'll take that any day. Obviously I quite enjoy the general style a lot of the time, although Portishead isn't a band I've ever really sat down and listened to. But I stuck this on twice, and it's quite long. I'd take this over fucking Rumours any day of the week.
Pure anxiety and terror in album form. Each track is approachable, due to Beth Gibbons’ traditional torch-song vocals, and yet at the same time it is impossible to predict how any of it will go, due to the group’s complete abandonment of any sort of traditional instrumentation and arrangement. This sounds nothing like other Portishead records, and in fact nothing much like anything else. One of the best of its decade, and time will reveal it to be a classic. Best track: “Machine Gun”
Creepy Radiohead or a crappy NIN - I can’t tell which.
I mean, the rip is a classic and has been a part of the rotation for a long while now. But the rest of the album (sans a few songs) isn’t very good.
I like this. I like Phantogram and these guys clearly influenced them a lot.
A lot of prolific bands do this. They have a short, amazing discography, then show up randomly 10-15 years later with a new album, which is never as near as good as the first few. "Dummy" was a masterpiece. this album is not.
i love portishead but i don't listen to this album so often. listening to it again, i remember why: i find it much harder to get lost in the music with the omnipresent voice. it's fascinating in a way, but i don't actually enjoy it all that much. hard to rate really
cool! 5/5
Portishead has been on my radar for what feels like forever. I am already a huge Massive Attack and Sneaker Pimps fan, so the genre is not unfamiliar to me. I find that while Massive Attack is very layered and complex, Portishead takes one a more obtuse and yet direct approach to their sampling and composition. There is nonetheless a pervasive darkness to this work, and it fit well as it was raining and gloomy outside while I was listening to it. All the tracks worked, particularly Magic Doors for reasons that are simply beyond me. Very interesting album and I can’t wait for the next Portishead album to show up on the list.
Ojoj, alltid gillat portishead men brukar hamna i de där klassiska albumen. Detta var en riktig banger dock
Felt like a place between places
The experimental sounds weren't really it for me, I was expecting good things but this came as a let down
Tremendo me parece poco calificativo para este álbum. Portishead tienen su hueco en la historia de la música por convertirse en los reyes del trip hop, aunque en este tercer álbum se permiten mezclar otros estilos y hacerse más versátiles. Lo que no cambia es la presencia totalmente avasalladora de Beth Gibbons, desde su aparente fragilidad, que en un momento te destroza las entrañas con l rotundidad de su quejumbrosa voz. Si los has visto en directo no te sorprenderá esa sensación. Su música es todo un viaje, a veces incómodo, pero siempre preñado de verdad y de dolor. "The Rip" te estremece hasta la médula, al igual que "Threads". Cada tema es una excursion al fondo de tu alma. Y "Machine Gun" es... hay que escucharla, porque no thay manera de describirla. Notas cada disparo en tu estómago. Un 10 de 10.
Portishead created a sound that is copied to this day, and this album has beats, loops and glitches and good as anything they have done. I just couldn't get into the melodies.
it’s been years since i listened to dummy. that one is a certified hood classic and third completely dont sound like this. one top review considered as this the most anxiety inducing album ever but as someone with anxiety i just feel a tiny bit anxious listening to this. but this is indeed some real shit 4/5
not half bad.
I love their live album at the Roseland but I just couldn’t connect to this one. Struggled with it
This would have been even more awesome in October, but this will do. The Rip and We Carry On are two of the most distinctive and engaging songs I've encountered on this ride. Not a definitive look into what Portishead is known for, but one that made me turn my head (9/10, 5/5 on this scale)
portishead's third and presumedly final album release. definitely an album that's big on the experimental side of this, an oddity that you want to let play to the end even if you don't like the sound as much... with a lone vocalist with strange guitars and strums just surrounding you all over the place... this album kinda feels like you're being choked in a weird way.
This was way better than unexpected it to be. The other Portishead record here is super boring but this was nice.
I am definitely not keen on portishead at all. Gave up after two songs. Glory box is an ok song though, but their songs need a very specific mindset to enjoy. in fact they really feel more like background music used to set a certain mood.
I’ve never really understood Portishead. I can appreciate the atmosphere they create, but I often find the music ultimately forgettable. I scored Dummy a 1/5 and found it pretty dull, so I went into Third hoping it might change my mind. Unfortunately, it didn’t. Third feels like an album that’s trying to be deliberately abstract and experimental, but for me it never really lands. I struggled to understand what it was aiming for, and there aren’t any real standout moments that pull you in. The songs drift along without much variation, and while the sound is moody and atmospheric, it rarely develops into anything memorable or engaging. Lyrically, nothing really stood out either, and combined with the slow, brooding production, the album ends up feeling quite flat. It’s one of those records that just passes by without leaving much of an impression, despite its clear intent to be something more distinctive. Favourite tracks: “Machine Gun” was probably the most trck along with Silence. Least favourite tracks: Nothing individually awful, but much of the album blends together and feels uneventful Album artwork: I really like the cover, its simple but effective, and more striking than the music itself
Fine, forgettable. Mildly uninteresting.
I had a bit of a controversial opinion on this one a while back, leaving the noir-style triphop sound and going more in the direction of electronic seemed strange to me, it was good, i just couldn’t see the hype, and i say this as an otherwise massive fan of Portishead, i love Self-Titled and i rate both Dummy and Roseland as some of my favourite albums ever, but Third just never clicked for me… and it still hasn’t completely, i still love Beth Gibbons lyrics and vocals but some of the instrumental choices are a bit bizarre (looking at We Carry On’s intro), and i get that its meant to be weird to symbolise a mental state in chaos, but some of it just isn’t pleasant on the ears, and music is meant to be enjoyed dammit. To be clear i still like this album, but i’m giving this a 4 star whereas each of their other 3 releases would all be 5 stars. Standouts are Hunter, The Rip, Magic Doors and Threads.
Good album from Bristol ambient trancers
I don't think the genre is for me
This album I listen to half yesterday and the second half today. I enjoyed it a lot more today than I did yesterday. Not sure what the difference was other than able to pay less attention and just background music it today? Either way. I ended up giving it a bonus Samara because today was so nice I listened to the second half twice on accident and didn’t care.
a bit creepy, but i like experimental
It's just very boring
Ei
Electronic 👎
Portishead is nothing if not consistent. So if you like Portishead, then you’ll enjoy this one. I do not enjoy Portishead.
Pleasant.
Intriguing, but inaccessible. Not going to want to revisit this one.
"I've traveled so far but somehow feel the same." This lyric from "Threads" is how I felt listening to the third album from Portishead. I'd like to know more about the collaborative process of this band. And what 1998 felt like for them when they were one of the most globally popular bands. They must have been able to play any club in Europe, Australia, or the Americas.
Beth Gibbons voice takes you to heaven, while crying. Amazing how this album turned out considering the time gap. The magic was always there.
462/1089 - This album is so creepy and cool. Songs stop abruptly, sharp and mechanical percussion contrasting with Beth Gibbon's unique legato phrase. Trading their noire/trip-hop sound for a krautrock/post-industrial sound. I really hope they have another album in them and I hope it sounds nothing like this, just like Third sounds nothing like Self-titled or Dummy.
Dark and disturbing - I love this. The album feels like it should have been the soundtrack to any of these movies from the 1920's, Metropolis, Nosferatu or The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari.
It's like the worst instrumental Bond theme on repeat and without any payoff.
Third is clearly the work of serious artists making uncompromising choices, and the eleven-year gap before its release only deepened the commitment to difficulty. This is not the smoky trip-hop of Portishead’s earlier records — it’s industrial, abrasive, and deliberately unsettling in ways that reward listeners who want to be challenged and alienate those who don’t. Falling firmly in the latter camp is not a judgment about the record’s ambition. It’s just honest. “Deep Water” is the exception and the accidental argument against everything surrounding it. Gibbons’ voice over a ukulele, stripped of every production layer that makes the rest of the record so hard to inhabit — it’s genuinely moving, a brief window into what this album might have been with more moments of that kind of human directness. It lands as the highlight precisely because it gets out of its own way. Then “Machine Gun” arrives. That motorik drum pattern hammering relentlessly underneath Gibbons’ fractured vocals creates a disconnect that’s clearly intentional — the voice barely holding on over something completely indifferent to her distress. For some listeners that contrast is devastating. Here it just creates distance rather than tension, and the record never quite recovers from it as a listening experience. Respected, not enjoyed. A 2 that fully acknowledges the craft while being honest about the complete absence of personal connection.
very mysterious
I actually quite liked this one added to thr big playlist a few
very sad and slow not for me
cool instrumental type shit, love soundscapes but I only get so much enjoyment out of something with very little vocals I guess. moody bisexual vibe I will give this anther listen/ excited to hear their earlier album as consensus seems to be its better
boring
Decent enough, but not within a country mile of Dummy and I'm really not convinced we needed two Portishead albums here.
Me volvió completamente loco la voz de esa mujer, buen álbum.
Not necessarily a bad album but it just didn't work for me personally. I liked the slow, almost haunting vocals, but the electronic aspects felt out of place
Portishead has not left much of an impression on me in my previous encounters with their music. It always seemed like something I could respect but wasn’t really for me. I might have been impatient. This album starts off interesting enough, but by the time The Rip segues into the electronic groove in its 2nd half I’m completely in. Beth Gibbons’ vocals add a beautiful fragility… sometimes matching the music, other times acting as its counterpoint. Plastic continues the strongest stretch of the album… leading to We Carry On, which might be my favorite track here. The variety of sounds throughout the record keep me interested and are particularly mesmerizing in this song. I love how the sparse ukulele track, Deep Water, leads right into the aggressive electronic bombast of Machine Gun. The sequencing of tracks on this record is such a strength, as are the sonic shifts within each song. It makes for so many memorable moments. “Third” is an album I felt needed multiple listens to even begin to rate it, and I’m sure more listens will continue to reveal more hidden treasures within. I’m looking forward to reevaluating Portishead’s other music and continuing to build my appreciation for this masterpiece too.
Hard one to rate because I didn’t enjoy it at all, but I can also appreciate it, and see how unique it is.
Noisy, anxious, moody, atmospheric, sometimes claustrophobic. I felt like I was lying in my bed at dusk, headachey and slightly dissociating after an emotional meltdown earlier in the day. But I'm known to enjoy music I resonate with / that makes me feel anxiety in new and fascinating ways compared to what I typically do. So I enjoyed this.
Not really my thing. There's some interesting ideas musically, and the ambient style is somewhat unique. But for me, this just lacks much else that interests me. The vocals are nice, not outstanding but nice. I like weird music so I hoped I would like this more, but just didn't speak to me. I find trying to differentiate the songs quite difficult, they all sound very similar and lack much repetition. Fav track: The Rip
Turns out I love trip hop
Oh Jesus, I hated this. Like, I get what they thought they were doing. But it was truly unpleasant to listen to. Miss the original style. This was aggressively not that.
My favorite Portishead. Delightfully moody and sombre. Got a great variety of sounds going on, works really well.
It was an atmospheric and interesting listen for sure, but also anxiety-inducing in a way that meant I didn't get to the end of every song in the album.
Not my favorite Portishead. A little abrasive at times.
Third favorite of the three … decent… really good even… but missing that track that never leaves your brain.
I don’t find anything to dislike but also did not really take to this album - although I like techno. The Tori Amos atmosphere had a draw but overall I was not compelled to listen again or think about it.
I thought this could be a hard listen but the more I listened the more I enjoyed it
Hmm, this didn’t do it for me the way the previous Portishead album did. I’ve actually heard this before when walking through a dorm building on campus and found it interesting when I wasn’t listening—and rather grating when I was. Still, some interesting choices, but I gave it two listens and probably won’t choose to listen again.
Dark and mysterious. This album will scratch the itch when you're in that mood.