Metal Box

I’ve never heard of this… I wonder why (One hour later) Oh. I know why now. I was college roommates with Johnny Rotten. Not *the* Johnny Rotten, but his name *was* John Lyden and we did call him that. He was a much better singer.

Not terrible but it feels like I am paying for someone's fooling around in the studio.

This was decidedly not for me. The singer's voice and repetitive lyrics were off putting to say the least. That said, the instrumental tracks were pretty good. I don't think I'd listen to this again or seek out their other albums. Glad to have heard this to no it's not my thing though.

straight poop

It's like a bad talking heads. Not terrible, but certainly not anything fantastic

Fine but forgettable

4/10 Pretty mellow. Spotify is missing a couple songs from the album, which is weird. Overall okay.

I'm tired boss...

"We're anti-establishment! So, what does the music establishment usually like?" "I know, there's harmony, rhythm, phrasing, melodies, and timing. Those all tend to make for catchy songs." "Great, let's do away with all that. Down with the machine!!!"

Record store employee music. If Joy Division is just too polished for you, give this a listen! I knew nothing about the band before listening. My impression after a few tracks, decent rhythm section with some of the worst vocals and guitar ever recorded. Got better towards the end. I saw another review that said it was almost unlistenable but also fascinating, that pretty much sums it up for me. I did find a track to add to my 1001 playlist, the one instrumental without any guitar, "Socialist"

Primera y última vez que pienso escuchar este álbum en mi vida. Le habría dado un mejor puntaje si no fuese porque las canciones que no me gustaron fueron un aburrimiento total (eso que soy una persona que disfruta de canciones largas, pero llega un punto donde se vuelve un exceso si ni siquiera hay un intento de hacer que sea divertido escucharlas). ↑: Memories, Graveyard, Radio 4. ↓: Poptones, The Suit, Chant.

I hate post punk so much make it stop. Starting off terribly, the screeching guitar and god awful vocals mesh horribly with the bass and drum groove. I don't understand how someone can actually like this it's like the band is trying to make you want to kill yourself. There is zero variety here it's just the same putrid drone for TEN MINUTES?? The next track is a little better, because the band sounds completely different with now better guitar tones and singing styles. I actually like that one a little. It stays pretty good for a couple songs, with the bass massively carrying them to make up for the terrible vocals. Then the singer is finally silenced as the two groovy instrumentals screech for a few minutes, which aren't too bad. Now we're back to another creepy drone song, which just leaves me bored and upset. No Birds was pretty good, Chant was terrible, but the closing track was actually pretty beautiful. The bass playing was definitely the best part of the listen, making every track decent enough to give this album a 2.

Avant garde punk? Why, Johnny, why?

I can see this being a stronger album than 𝘍𝘪𝘳𝘴𝘵 𝘐𝘴𝘴𝘶𝘦. 𝘔𝘦𝘵𝘢𝘭 𝘉𝘰𝘹 sounds more focused and more confident in what it’s trying to do, especially with the heavy basslines and hypnotic repetition. Atmospherically, it’s much more effective, and it’s easy to hear why the album became so influential for post-punk. My main issue is still John Lydon. His vocals constantly make the album harder to connect with for me, to the point where it becomes difficult to really enjoy. There’s clearly a strong idea behind the whole thing, but I end up appreciating it more in theory than in practice.

Meh too industrial for me..

2026.05.20-21

Some of the guitar work was good, but overall this was not great. vocals are bad.

Fav- pop tones 2/5

3.5/10

Not found on Amazon or apple.

For better and worse, this album really captures the feeling of noodling on a guitar in your bedroom. It feels like writing a song. Unfortunately it also feels like they never finished writing those songs and just kept droning on the same idea for way too long. There's absolutely somebody out there for whom this is The Jam but that somebody is not me.

The auditory equivalent of wandering a modern art gallery. I have no doubt that some people might rave about each song, letting me know all the detail I have missed or that I am insufficiently cultured to appreciate, but this just felt like a bad night listening to John Peel on Radio 1.

The one nice thing about Second Issue is that it's much more rhythm-focused than the first (at least in the front half). Let it be an introduction to Dub if it must, but nobody should have to endure John Lydon to enjoy meaty, hypnotic bass grooves and drums!! Standouts: Albatross • Swan Lake • Poptones

Really interesting instrumentation and some pretty nice grooves, but then the vocalist starts up and the whole thing goes to shit.

outoa kerrontaa välillä

Prison food. 2/5

Not available

Meh. Not in the mood for this.

Ikke lige mig. Nogle af numrene var et vibe, men albummet fangede mig ikke lige. Synes også at det var en lidt hård start med et 10 minutters nummer

Yeahhhh…. I absolutely appreciate what the Pistols did in rock history. PiL? Not so much.

Started off well, but felt a bit boring towards the end.

I actually didn’t mind this one as much but still not my favorite. Need to catch tf up

Enjoyed more than last public image album but like still not much. Just not musical enough

Damn that was boring

cant be that good considering that its not on spotify and the other album of theirs on this list that is on spotify is straight butt

Huh. It's certainly odd. I like the wobbly bass lines, and some of the drums are cool. It does sound like every member of the band wrote their own songs in the same tempo and played them simultaneously. I don't abhor this, but I can't say I like it, or really want to listen again. Interesting how John Lydon (née Rotten) sings on this—he sounds rather Buzzcocks-y at times (though without their pop songwriting chops). I can see the appeal if I lived in a certain time period and if I were a certain kind of person—but avant-garde music needs to straddle that line between challenging and enjoyable, and I think this is pretty squarely in the "challenging" camp.

I enjoy arty atonal shit but an hour of very similar sounding arty atonal shit is a bit much

whats even going on in this music? 2/5

A mixed bag. Let’s start with the one positive. The bass/drum work is excellent on occasion. The rhythms are catchy and energetic. Now the negatives… Some of the songs are far too long and they don’t need to be. It makes the album feel like a vanity project The vocals are awful throughout. Histrionic and meretricious. Either a slow wailing style or a comedy punk style. Neither is bearable for long. One of the most unoriginal albums on this list so far. Lydon listened to some Joy Division and thought he could do the same. He couldn’t. His presence brings the album down a whole lot. Not the worst album on this list. There was potential here, but the band made several bad decisions and blew it. A wasted opportunity. What a shame.

About 5 songs in, its all a bit samey. The bass guitar is the stand out

Too subdued for me. When I experience a John Lydon project I expect wild eyed avant garde, wild eyed punk or wild eyed trying to sell me butter.

My favorite parts were the parts when just the instruments were doing their thang and that guy wasn’t fucking ‘singing’.

Not my thing.

Didn't love or even really like most of this, but was such an odd combination of sounds/vocals I can't give it a 1. It was all over the place and that was the point of the album. 2/5

I really wish there were no vocals on this album and I'd like it a lot more Favorite Songs: Memories

There are a couple of tracks worth listening to. But, overall, it's a weak effort.

One of my kids does rock band at school with other elementary and middle schoolers. It sounds exactly like this.

Overall Rating - 2.42/5 (4.83/10). If you made all of the songs instrumentals, I'd like this album a lot better.

It’s actually just not that good I shan’t be coming back to you Mr Rotten

about time the generator gives me something properly weird and dissonant! that said i found this a bit underwhelming. the dubby influence is always welcomed by me, but after the first disc it really gets dull and falls off. Lydon isn't a good enough vocalist to carry it either. not bad but a disappointment for me. deserves to be one of the 1001? yea

This album is like having a slow panic attack

The first song starts out with a cool bass line but is about 8 minutes longer than it needs to be. If you can make it through that, it doesn’t get much better from there. There are pieces of good songs here but nothing is cohesive. Can’t give it a 1.5 so I guess it’s a 2.

“the albatross” in this case being, of course, a per-track runtime that is consistently thrice as long as would be required to make whatever musical or lyrical point we are going for, and being, unfortunately, not at all gotten-rid-of in any editing process,

What an inspiration for never ever making a new sound over the course of minutes

A pretty good bass player surrounded by people who didn’t understand the assignment

I did not care for this.

2.5 stars. Misguided 80's post-punk. Leadoff "Albatross" is interesting musically at times but the vocals bring it down. Noisy "Chant" so hard to listen to.

Music was good. I did not necessarily like the vocals.

Interesting album

Jah Wobble's bass is good, the rest is bad.

An apex offering for post-punk, with all the genre's positives and drawbacks. Interesting use of melodic structure (or lack thereof), but gets a bit too abstract for my personal taste. Comes together in moments, but definitely not for everyone. Top tracks: Albatross, Swan Lake

Socialist Realism.

This album spunda like a group of friends all showed up to a recording studio having never practiced or played their instruments. The only exception being the bass player. Everything else is terrible. I am giving this album a 2 just because the bass player held this mess together the best he could.

The music itself is at times decent & interesting, but it is completely ruined by the singing. And I am saying this as someone that enjoys singers that don't fit the mold of what is traditionally considered "good". The voice is just completely unpleasant to listen to and takes away from any other enjoyment I could possibly get from this record.

Bit odd

First song is pretty rough, but it gets worse

Not a fan.

i could take it or leave it - I know these guys are important for the post-punk movement, but It wasn't really my jam. There were a couple of songs that captured me but otherwise I'd be ok if I didn't sit on this album again.

This was an emo album (vocals) wrapped in a techno blanket

Aika valju levy. Tykkäsin bassotteluista, mitkä on post-punklevyissä parasta antia mulle. Lydon laulu on aika ärsyttävää.

Stundum nær þetta hypnotísku (alls ekki dáleiðandi samt) dróni og áhugaverðu, en stundum eru þetta bara dissónísk læti. Og Lydon hefur oft verið í betra formi en hér. Tvistur í krafti einnar hlustunnar.

Nothing really stood out to me aside from 'Albatross' being a really long track Standouts - 2/5

2.

Hard work

I just don't enjoy it. Four attempts to listen to it and I always get distracted.

Swan Lake Careering Graveyard

Metal Box is one of those albums where it tries to be so weird and out there that it ends up just becoming really repetitive. This album gives me quite a bit of deja vu to Suicide's self-titled album i did way back, however this album isn't nearly as bad as that one because its not nearly as annoying. There were some good basslines on this album and they definitely did try a lot of things here. But it just all ends up blending together considering the album's ho-hum production and it simply goes on for too long, like an hour of this is excessive. I was initially thinking of giving this a 2.5 but due to the length, it got knocked down to a full blown 2. Best Song: Memories Worst Song: Chant

It doesn’t even feel experimental or deliberate. It’s kind of nonsense.

A bunch of moaning and wailing over simple drum and bass lines; a lot of the songs' vocals sound like that famous clip of Yoko Ono ruining that Lennon/Chuck Berry collab performance. This is the kind of avant garde bullshit that art college douchers pretend is good and defines their personality. Some of the up-tempo background music has potential and could be fun, but the song structure and vocals are complete shit. The lowest 2/5 possible.

4/10 Bass and drums are good (although let's not carried away). The guitar and vocals are excruciating.

Definitely experimental. The vocals aren’t good. First song is extremely long. The beats of the songs aren’t bad at all some of them are pretty good. Favorite song: Memories Second favorite: Socialist

Maybe today isn't the best for me to listen to this album. After awhile I had to stop and look at thinking WTF am I listening to? Oh yeah.... Oh a different day I may rate it higher.

2/5. The minute you see a "post" as the prefix for a genre, you know you're in for something weird. It's a really hard listen. Cacophony is the norm throughout the album, and the mix of sounds here is bewildering. The singer is of the "I'm gonna sing this however the hell I want to and you'll turn it off if you dislike it enough" variety, one of the punk qualities that made it through the post filter. There are some awesome little pieces though. One song quotes Tchaikovsky. Other songs have powerful bass thrumming throughout. Other songs have a guitar strumming in the background with an ethereal, spacey quality to the distortion. There are some brilliant components that are a genuine treat to listen to, but you gotta dig for them here. There's an earnestness to this album that endears it to me. It is apparent there were no compromises or considerations for the listener, it's the band's vision and it didn't falter on it at all. If it weren't for that, I don't think this album would be worth the try.

od komercyjnego do obskurnego punka i dookola swiata z zgnilym jasiem

Music itself not bad but the vocals hurt my ears!

The extra 50% added to every song adds NOTHING to the songs or albums. Over indulgent wanking, I guess I shouldn't be surprised.

zu viel für easy listening

Not for me

Hoewel sommige onderdelen van nummers best vibey zijn, met name de baslijntjes, heb je het na 3 minuten vaak ook wel gehoord. Ik twijfelde nog tussen een 2 of en 3, maar aangezien John Lydon/Johnny Rotten echt een ontiegelijk grote kneus is (staan er overigens wel veel van op deze lijst), geef ik ze toch maar niet het voordeel van de twijfel.

Waanzinnig grooves met ongeëvenaarde basloopjes die worden bijgestaan door de meest waardeloze vocals op deze lijst tot nu toe. Fuck John Lydon.

Wasn't a fan of the shouty singing, music was middling at best. Suits was alr. Could have been worse. 46/100

I kind of liked this for its weirdness when I first turned it on but it soon became quite dull. Still has a certain charm I can't describe about it but I'd never choose to put it on.

Favorite Track: Swan Lake

Man this was an unpleasant soundtrack for my morning jog. I only ever heard on song by PiL before and it’s not on this album (This Is Not A Love Song). This is post punk of the harsh, noisy, industrial kind. Joy Division with nasal vocals and screechy guitars. They really test your patience on stuff like the starting track Albatross with ten minutes of noise or The Suit where they chant “everyone likes you/until they know you”. This album is a very harsh treatment of the listener. Thing is, as the listener, it’s kind of hard to take all of this punishment with nothing to reward me. Music is both art and entertainment and this leans fully into art I guess. Give them two stars for the art but no you don’t have to listen to this before you die, other post punk and noise rock is more fun to listen to.

Not my thing

This guys singing is really annoying, but the backing music is actually pretty good

Would have been 4 stars except for the vocals and every song being about 3 minutes too long.

I struggled with this one. It’s not meant to be an easy listen, and there were parts that I enjoyed. The bass lines are so good and sometimes hypnotic, so I would be bopping along even though the vocals are challenging. The vocals are performed by John Lyndon- also known as Johnny Rotten. This is his post-punk project after the Sex Pistols, and the music is certainly experimental, gritty and dissonant. Not an enjoyable listen, but I can see how it was influential. I wouldn’t listen to it again though.

i could see the vision, some parts really dragged out and i feel it was structured weirdly

I did kinda like the instrumentals, but the singers voice just completely ruined everything

Two one note for me, I got quite bored

Do I hate this? Jah. I do.

Unconventional, but almost pompously so. I'm all for invention but this feels contrived to me. And musically it doesn't do anything for me. Would I listen to this again? No

nice, but I wouldn't listen to it again

Didnt like it

I really didn’t enjoy this one, the singing the guitar and the rhythms were all hard to listen to and get into. Not for me

I don’t know what happened with this but I didn’t like it at all. Maybe it was just my mood that day but I was totally disinterested by track 3.

Not really, no

Umm, strange. Very repetitive songs, and some were so similar! One guys voice was wonky the way it went up and down. And the other guys voice was just creepy.

Not really for me but also not really that bad?????

ehhhhhhh. 1.5

Ehhh it's fine I guess but I was really expecting more. Experimental post punk that's just not that impressive, I don't think this would be included if Johnny Rotten wasn't the band frontrunner.

This album would’ve been a whole lot better without the vocals, some interesting bass lines. Some of the experimental sounds don’t hit for me. Between this and their first album, Public Image is my least favorite band so far.

Not for me

Can't make it through

I've been sick the past few days and the thought of listening to this gave me a headache so it's been a few days. ehh. 4/10

Ugh. I'd rather listen to an actual metal box.

weird

John Lydon is the worst part of any project he’s in.

"Mainly just noise, Ltd." This is a tedious album on which the punk sensibilities are still in full swing - but the band wanted more, and so they tried to experiment, the result of which is utter unlistenable. 1.5/5

Nope. I recognize punk beginnings but there were so many better bands/music.

This feels like a series of voice memos where you are coming up with ideas. Not in a bad way but in an interestingly unfinished and unpolished way. An interesting narrative of “don’t want to get caught” recording with the different drummers. Johnny Rotten is a vocalist I’ve not connected with and it’s the same here. Graveyard was a highlight on this album (which makes sense because he keeps his mouth shut).

It's a no from me on the vocals.

Some of this was ok and some of it was unpleasant. The vocals on The Suit were especially jarring. Wouldn't listen to this one again.

I felt like this is what cats fighting would sound like. It was as annoying as listening to someone with the sniffles. The ONLY reason this doesn't get a one star is because just about every song had a KILLER bass line. Wow. Loved that part.

Hard time finding the alblum on line. After listening, I am not a fan.

Loud!

Never heard of band or album. 10 minute first song has me weary. Cool baseline. Vocals suck. A theme I’m noticing with these older rock albums is that the background music is way louder than the vocals. Guitar is choppy and feels improvised but not in a good way. Could’ve ended this song after 3 mins. Drums were good I guess. Memories is a lot better. Still bullshit vocals. Unnecessary. Swan lake is pretty good. Great guitar. Bass/drums are the best part of every song. Ending is really weird/bad. Pop tones is fine.way too long tho. I don’t understand these sounds going for so long when it’s the same riff on loop. We didn’t need the last 3 minutes of that. Careering sucks. Giving me a headache. Socialist is ok. More of the same. Graveyard has some good element but feels incohesive. I can’t believe it’s not even halfway done. This album just didn’t stand the test of time. I can understand how at the time of real ease it could’ve been “influential” but it’s not a good listen at this point. No birds is fine. Not the best or worst on the album. Weird ending again. Chant is weird. Good guitar. Radio 4 is kind of refreshing? No weird shouting or ad lib bed guitar. Works as a closer. I think this saved it from 1 star but I would not recommend. 1.5 out of 5

I would have thought that I would enjoy this, but that wailing voice is just unbearable

It’s fine but I’ll probably never listen to it again

Experiment post-punk-dance with almost spoken-word delivery. Just not my style at the moment.

Don’t get it. I understand why it’s important but I’ll never give this a go again. Not sure why it’s considered so amazing, but I can appreciate what it did for future music.

Good but hard to listen...2,5

Not my style

Very mediocre.

Was a 3 in the beginning, got down to a low 2 by the end

I appreciate this for the unusual experiment it is, but don't see myself listening again. I found the first few songs very danceable, even though they are repetitive. I enjoyed the bass playing a lot too, which is surprising given that I hated the Jah Wobble album. Maybe I need to give that another listen. This album is way too long and repetitive though. By the end I had stopped paying attention to everything except the driving drum and bass. I was still moving to it though, so I guess that's something.

Not for me. Bass alright in pop tones and Radio 4 kinda cool. I guess it’s too cool for me

Can be okay at times, but didn't find it super enjoyable.

Vaikea saada tarttumapintaa. Tavallaan kiinnostavaa mut ei nappaa. 2/5

I just posted ‘the post-punk is just a bunch of sneaky jerks messing around’ and you recommended another one for me today. Ok, To be honest I really can’t appreciate this but it did have some special points I couldn’t even clarify.

I'm capable of appreciating what it's doing, I just don't think I'm capable of enjoying what it's doing. That being said I did listen the whole thing, I wasn't bored, and at least its unique and interesting and not another Metallica album.

I wasn’t amazed, but I didn’t hate it.

2.13

This was not good

According to John Lydon, "Many people don't understand that it was improvisation [...] It had to be, because we'd spent most of the money on the container – and so what we had to do was quite literally sneak into studios when bands had gone home for the night. And these were pretty rough monitor mixes – no actual production." We can tell Mr. Lydon. We can tell. Sincerely, People with ears.

Album No. 0036 on my list. Only knew the name of the band before this; "Metal Box" was a completely new listen to me. Unfortunately, I didn't enjoy the album all that much. I can appreciate its avant-garde music and its post-punk vibe. I do understand what would lead critics, people who are more knodledgable than myself or more advanced listeners would pick this for the 1001 album list. The songs themselves however did not appeal to me that much. Despite its length, i did like "Albatross" the best, and I enjoyed the instrumental "Socialist" as well. The other songs were less memorable for me, to be honest. To summarize - appreciate the influential nature of this, didn't like it that much personally. 2/5 stars.

Cathal is wrong

This one was a struggle. The Sex Pistols was an experiment that worked. This was an experiment that didn't.

I don't need verse chorus verse to have a good time. Weird albums are often something I look forward to. But this is just aimless noise with nothing really holding it together.

Just a lot of noises. I generally like punk rock but this was a different spin. Likely won’t listen again.

Bass, Bass and more Bass. It is a sprawling mess.

Interesting to say the least. The music has a very entrancing effect to it that evokes strange emotions. Now I don’t dislike it because of the experimental post punk style. The grooving bass lines along with completely random guitar riffs are pretty intriguing, and the way the vocals are mixed reminds me of something off of Stratosphere by Duster. Rather, the fact that the songs seem to drag on without end and the vocals feel like they were all uninspired from the first take really takes a lot away from what could make this album enjoyable. Rhythm section is the most redeemable quality of the album.

Much like Public Image, this just doesn't do a ton for me. Post-punk is such a strange genre that I can appreciate while not caring for much of it.

2.5

Bro hör uf mer das experimentele Post-Punk azrüere, vorallem wenns e Stond god. Das experimentelle zeigt sech do au rächt einersiits dör rächt chrommi Tön, anderersiits dör e rächt verzerrti Gitarre. Was wahrschiindlech us dem Projekt scho usecho esch, esch dasi zwar gärn so sache ha, solangs passt. Do fendis äbe no schwerig z Säge, wels einersiits doch sehr onpassend chrom tönt, andersiits heds äbe scho au öppis ond es tönt no kinda ikonisch. Das esch eigentlech so chli es Zeiche dasi ned sett ufhöre das Albom z lose wel sech mini Secht no starch am verändere esch, do esch sie aber jetzt rächt gliich blobe. Das lod mech chli met emne Albom wo mer so erschiint als obs mega iflossrich esch oder zomendest wemmer die Art vo Musig fühlt baba esch, för mech aber ned so s Deng ond drom wahrschiinldech s legschte mol scho glosst esch. Esch aber trotzdem e geili experience gse.

We hebben er weer een! De zanger is weer werkelijk dra-ma-tisch, muzikaal zit dit album wel echt ontzettend goed in elkaar!. Zo ontzettend jammer dat deze band de allerergste zanger heeft die ik heb gehoord, hij huilt en klaagt en kermt continue over de nogmaals prettige muzikale/instrumentale stukken. Ook is dit album LANG, jezus jongens, niet te doen. Elk nummer duurt en duurt en duurt. Dit is duidelijk een album dat is gemaakt voordat de radio edit was uitgevonden, want daar had het echt een hoop aan gehad. Merk dat ik na een tijdje echt compleet klaar er mee ben en het blijft maar door gaan. Gelukkig is het wel erg lekker weer en kan ik daar nog van genieten maar dit is geen album dat ik ooit nog aan zal zetten. FAVO: Memories,

The singing is awful! The music is a little interesting, but woof. 1.5.

I listen to Animal Collective. THIS is too weird for my tastes. 2/5

Didn’t enjoy, parts sounded like they were trying to be the Doors, at others Talking Heads then the new wave synth thing. Won’t listen to again 1 or 2 stars

There were moments where this album was not insufferable.

I would’ve rather listened to a Sex Pistols album. I didn’t like this. It was just noise.

The bass is good. That's the end of the good part of the review. The random noises and guitar screeching on top of the bass occasionally worked but mostly are just annoying. The vocals are absolutely terrible and ruined the little enjoyment I was getting from the music.

Impressively early for this kind of 90s-ish sound, so clearly ahead of its time, although I genuinely wasn't super excited to listen to it.

This feels pioneering in fusing dance and rock/indie my songs just don’t stand up.

Very different. I really liked the background music, but could've done without the vocals.

Not my speed, never was a Johnny Rotten fan

I mean… I thought I liked this but as an album it’s difficult to listen to all the way through. I love the song poptones though.

There is some really interesting production on many of these tracks. The wailing vocals really serve some of the more despondent and dark tracks, but 60 minutes of that is a LOT. It's clearly experimental, it has some odd instrumentals, tracks with odd talk-vocals, and weird production. I can imagine this being really interesting and affecting as a punk fan in '79 but in my opinion not all of this ages that well. I'll also readily acknowledge that I might just not like post-punk very much, idk.

I feel like I would have enjoyed this much better as an instrumental album. I really liked the bass-led tracks, and some were passable even with vocals but whether by choice or just “production circumstance” it’s a hard listen with the vocal tracks.

Much of this album feels like noise. Chant, Albatross, Bad Baby had to resist getting skipped or ignored. They are rough to get through. I do appreciate what they tried with Poptones, parts of Swan Lake, and Socialist but I'm not sure that this isn't just by comparison. Not my least favorite of albums but this is overall a no from me.

Favorite tracks: Memories, Socialist Honorable mention: lyrics of The Suit, but the song was terrible I hated this album, but man do I have to give them credit for making something completely new. Unsettling, driving, loud, futuristic - but also, noise. Sometimes, it's just a lot of noise.

There are only 2 things that kept this album from getting a 1 star from me. First, most of the album, the vocals reminded me of Gordon Gano from The Violent Femmes, and second, eveey song has a killer bass line. Nothing else in this album did anything for me.

This album is way too slow for me. Long stretched songs with very little happening. Graveyard was the best song for me.

Not my cup of tea as far as post-punk albums go.

Börjar bra men jösses vilken bergochdalbana det blir därefter, tyvärr med fler dalar än toppar. Finns en del riktigt bra som skulle kunna byggts vidare på, men mycket är också så uselt att betyget inte orkar över en tvåa för mig.

I didn't really like this.

I liked some of what these guys put out back in the day. But today, running this one back start to finish, I found this album to be tiresome overall.

2/5

I’m a little conflicted since the Sex pistols, Johnny Lyndon and PiL were such radical pioneers. This is confrontational music and I admire what they’re trying to do but it’s not always ‘enjoyable’ or easy. I loved the tracks Public Image and This is not a love song. I wish they were on here.

98/1001. How do you rate an album which is mostly uncompromising and which is mostly shit? 2, since is not total shit.

Well that wasn’t very good

Never heard of this group. Midway through my listen and things feel like they're droning on. Each track seems to go on for about two minutes too long. It's all very melancholic and drab. I get they're trying to bring an 'avant-garde" angle to punk rock, but it just ultimately came off as dull At the very least, the bass playing is excellent.

I want to like this, but I'm not a fan. Couldn't get through the opener. Swan Lake and Socialist are cool. Theres some great sounds and interesting ideas on here, but most of the songs feel really half baked, like Joy Division fucking around in the studio after listening to a bunch of funk and reggae. Yeah idk all the tracks have a groove that's cool for like 30 seconds, but doesn't really develop from there and ends up outstaying it's welcome halfway through

An awful experience with no conexión in between songs 2/10

Too whiny and repetitive

It feels weird to say that it wasn’t too bad but only give it a 2. I appreciate it I guess but I don’t see myself going back to it.

Holy crap the first song, Albatross, is basically an Interpol song. There's no way they were not influenced by Public Image Ltd. This is an excellent example of music that influenced many other bands in the post-punk area of music, but on their own, I don't know if this is actually a "good" album. John Lydon's voice never really bothered me with the Sex Pistols but it's a bit grating for me on this one. It could be because the songs are so much longer than the Sex Pistols songs. The first half of the album is pretty good or at least very bearable. The back half is not as bearable for me. This may be influential and yet I don't think it's actually very good.

It just felt like a lot of long whinyness. The sounds weren't painful to the ears, just a lot of metal undertones that didn't really add anything just made them seem sad or creepy.

Nope. I don't think it's that interesting musically and there isn't much to distinguish one song from another. Also these songs suck too much to have so many of them on the album.

Verging somewhere between not that good and annoying

Wasn't as good as I expected ..... but maybe it needs more than one listen.

This sounded unfinished like they had laid down a decent backing track but forgotten the songs. Droned on a bit.... A generous 2.

John Lydon has always been a bit of a prat. He's had some great albums, and some not so great albums. This is one of the later.

Got better towards the end. Post-punk just ain't for me. 2/5

Thank god for the bassist, he’s the only one making music here

Very challenging. I almost bailed half-way through "Albatross," but I stuck it out. It does get better; the band is pretty awesome, especially Wobble's bass, and I got used to Lydon's vocals. On the whole, though, it just wasn't for me. Favorite tracks were "Swan Lake" and the instrumentals.

Normally i Like the music from the late Seventies. But a strong bass is not enough.

Metal Box by Public Image Ltd. Meeeeeh it's just a bit odd. I think the bass in it is excellent but unfortunately it's drowned out my Lydons wails and a guitar player that knows what he is doing....just about. It's 2 because it's miles better than their self titled album

Love rise, the rest is too Avant guard for me

I keep wanting to give this a 2 but the parts that aren’t a 2 are so far removed from a 2…worth checking out again

FINAL REVIEW After going back and forth in my head, I'm giving this album a 2/5. The instrumentals did eventually make sense to me, and those are a 4/5 for me. However, John Lydon's voice and the way the album seems to drag on bring it down to a 2/5. NOTES 11:28 pm - public image ltd. is one of the guys from the sex pistols, right? so i'm guessing this with be either punk or post-punk/new wave. let's see lol 4:41 am - i am finally listening to this, a few songs in, and i think i now understand how everyone around me feels when i put on mr bungle. like......i dont get this. every song is the same un-tuned guitar chords on loop with the most irritating, british screaming i have heard in music. to me, mr bungles avant-garde works bc they are all super talented and use that to be super fucking weird. this sounds like a bunch of guys who dont know how to play their instruments, but instead of playing fast, intense punk songs, they are playing long, droning, plodding nonsense. 5:19 am - listening to the whole album made me get the instrumentals a little bit more, but that voice is so fucking grating. 5:47 pm - alright, trying this again. i read up a little more on the album, and i'm hoping that background info will help me "get it". one thing i can pick up is that they definitely at least share some influences with one of my favorite bands, siouxsie and the banshees. siouxsie sioux was a huge sex pistols fan as a teenager and would follow the band to all of their shows, so its honestly not shocking that there are similarities here. 6:08 pm - honestly, i think the instrumentals have grown on me, now that i've gotten over the shock. the vocals are still annoying as shit, though. i would totally blast an instrumental version of this album tbh, honestly the discordant nature of it, all held together by some really excellent basslines, creates a really great, dark vibe. no more whiny british men though, please (says the radiohead fan).

Largely forgettable. Nothing too interesting or good on this album. 2/5 Won’t listen again

This kind of music isn't my thing. I don't mind its experimental nature but the instrumentation, his annoying vocal delivery (see: Poptones and The Suit) and general sound of it doesn't do anything for me.

johnny rotten is a talented man. i dig the sex pistols. but for the life of me i just don’t get PIL. the songs drone on and on to the point of being redundant and boring. to me, there’s just no “there” there.

Nah man, I’m good.

Can’t say i cared for this

2.4 - This was a struggle not gonna lie

2 stars

The first track is abysmal, then it gets (slightly) progressively better Best Song: Swan Lake Rating: 3/10 (Bad) Stars: 2/5

Twas alright

Far more annoying than I remembered but there are some good nuggets in there. I'd rather listen to either the Sex Pistols or Joy Division, but both at once isn't working.

Eh not my thing 2/5

How to describe... Rock-Jazz, with someone constantly (almost speaking) "singing". Most of the songs feel quite long.

This album starts with a ten minute trance, that kept making me think of Billie Jean, and it gets worse from there. It’s 6 sides of discordant noise with John Lydon groaning and howling in the background. Albatross would probably be better if it was shorter. In fact all the songs would be better if they were shorter. Is it meant to be taken seriously? I can’t decide if it’s mocking Joy Division or being influenced by them. Either way, I don’t like this album and can’t see myself choosing to listen to it ever again.

Meh.

Eh

Meh

I can see the bands that were influenced by this album, but I enjoy all of their albums much better than this. The tracks where the bass was forward in the mix, I enjoyed a bit better, but overall it didn’t move me.

Gloomy, monotonous, and redeemed here and there by Jah Wobble's bass playing. Much preferred the instrumentals to anytime that Jihn Lydon opens his mouth.

Starting with the positives - kudos to the bassist, some really great, creative basslines throughout the whole thing. I also enjoyed the punky, offkilter drums. But oh my God, john lydon wailing rubbish like an alleycat made this damn near unlistenable at times. The prick couldn't hold a note with a gun to his head, and it just grates. If they had a different vocalist and written more interesting lyrics, would probably have really enjoyed this, but was a fairly insufferable Sunday afternoon soundtrack thanks to johnny rotten. Best tracks are graveyard, socialist, and radio 4 because he doesn't utter a word

Vind dit echt niks 😭😭

Lynchian LCD Soundsystem Favorite song: Radio 4

Flirted with one-star territory; redeemed in part by "Graveyard" and a couple of later songs. Johnny Lydon/Johnny Rotten just isn't my guy.

Painful at times

Weird

1.5

🎧Uncompromising and abrasive, to the point of being fairly irritating at times

Pfff, not my thing. I can hear the influences (LCD Soundsystem anyone?) but it's messy, but not in a good way. Oh, and i don't like Lyndon's voice.

Loud and noisy

It’s not for me this style. I guess there is an appeal to the long winded, never ending, trance inducing drum/bass/guitar sections with whiny vocals but I just can’t get into it. The second track was actually lretty great but an anomaly…

Det var så där

Tinny and toothless post-punk. I'm sure it thinks it's being counter culturally dangerous but it's generally fairly boring. The production is awful too. Keep it in the metal box.Best Tracks: Albatross; Swan Lake; Poptones

Very difficult to listen to.Prefer Lydens voice when he was a Pistol

Pass please

The first song was awful, what followed improved to unmemorable.

wuh oh

Borderline unlistenable and I'm someone who generally enjoys "avant-garde" music. Dissonant in ways that are just noise without any structure. It's like every member of the band is playing a different song while some guy whales and moans. If Pere Ubu sucked, this would be the album they would make.

edgy repetitive stuff.

This album sucks. In fact, it sucks so bad I listened to it twice just to hear what it was I don’t like about it. And it’s everything. I guess I was able to listen through it twice though and I believe that should count for something.

This was another album where I really disliked it at first, but the longer I kept listening the more I understood its significance. Don’t get me wrong, it’s still grating and irritating to listen to at times, but I hear the inspiration for bands like Talking Heads and Pixies buried in the sludge that is long, droning avant-garde post punk. There’s something valuable to this record, and it’s the lessons other people took from it.

Hmmm at times the bass lines were interesting. But as songs or the project as a whole? Don't think so. I can't believe it's not butter https://youtu.be/7mSE-Iy_tFY

Never really did care for this

2/5

I did not use a private session for this one. Lydon's voice matched the grating, annoying instrumentation. I didn't need to hear this, I don't want this.

06/05/2025 This album should count itself lucky it's even getting 2 stars.

Execrable, interminable dirges. Absolute dogshit dreck. I won't go down to 1-star for it, as that's reserved in my mind for records I actively despise. This was close though!

I did not love this album, but I recognize it's merit. It reminds me of an early version of the band HMLTD (another experimental British Punk Band). Best Songs: Swan Lake Worst Songs: Albatross, No Birds

This is like a bad garage band.

This is just a racket. I can either give it another spin to see if I can justify a second star or just give it one and move on with my life. Ok I gave it another spin and I’m giving it a second star because there’s some cool bass guitar work in there. The vocals are dire and every song is too long though.

i want to like it but i really just don’t

Tolerable but no redeeming qualities

Bored, ngl

The metal theme is cool. I respect this stuff. I was really digging the bass, and then found out it was Jah Wobble playing - that explains it!! Unfortunately I have to rate this album a 2, even when they have other great stuff. My mum even had a PIL shirt when younger!

If this band fired their guitarist and singer and continued as a drummer/bassist duo they'd actually be really good

Complete

Not my kind of thing.

picks: albatross, memories, graveyard

Each song is at least a minute too long. I can see how this influenced other artists, but, it wasn't a super fun listen.

Tried…. Just couldn’t do it

I think it'd be a good vibe without the vocals. As it is, about four minutes in I just started laughing. This is a slow motion argument where the intoxicated agressor is stuck in molasses and gets kicked (deservedly) in the nads at the end.

This is what angry brits sound like Tbh they were onto something with this one, could see myself enjoying it if it wasn't for the vocals

it was alright? experimental no doubt, post-punk ish, reminds me of television by marquee moon but I like that better. not too punk for me

Fine in the background when struggling to wrangle an Excel sheet. Otherwise uninteresting.

When we were wee lads in school, late 80s, we had a band and took the thinnest of ideas, played them atonally, interminably, just a bit of funkiness we white boys could muster and we thought it was the most interesting music. WTF gave us that idea?

I understand how important this is to the development of post punk but my god it was a slog

LIttle too raw for me at this point of my life

Супер экспериментальная музыка не для меня. Но, опять-таки, эксперимент был интересный, воображений у группы есть. Вводит в состояние нервозности, тревоги.

I don't like this. Fairly disappointing as I figured PIL, a band with which I never got familiar but always meant to check out, would at least get a 3 or 4. Guess I dont care for post punk as much as I do punk.

Couldn’t finish it. I feel like music critics exist in their own little world sometimes. This is shit, although the guitarist has some chops.

äh fy fan. det får en tvåa för att trummorna och basen låter gött. resten är skit.

Didn't like

Wikipedia gives the genre as Post-Punk / Experimental Rock / Dub / Avant-Garde/ Dance which contains three genres that I'm always wary of. The music is OK, but the vocals are just a dirge; the opening track "Albatross" just drags on. Another pretentious "trendy" album that I think was only moderately successful because of band member John Lydon (aka Johnny Rotten).

Interesting in all the wrong ways.

Not a fan.

kind of grew on me as it played out, very experimental, wouldn't listen again

couldn't sit through a single song on this albums, just unnecessarily long and very repetitive which makes it extremely difficult to listen

Dubby, noodly, and droney, Metal Box didn’t resonate with me at first. Just a great thud. Maybe I was too young to grasp that artists could completely change direction—not just evolve, but zag where you expected them to zig—that they might seek out creative destruction of the idea of their former selves. My only real reference at the time for a group whose sound I had noticed changed was the Beatles; and even their stylistic leaps felt less jarring than the cognitive whiplash of going from the Sex Pistols to PiL at 12 or 13 years old. By the time I was listening both bands were removed from their original context and my young lizard brain wanted PiL to continue something I had found in my idea of the Pistols. Take that expectation and take that PiL — a kid might recoil. And for this album in particular, maybe it’s just a matter of sequencing and song selection. It succeeds more when in Swan Lake and less with an Albatross. Mix things up (Albatross as a closer) and pull the least good song entirely might help this album land better. But if Lydon’s mission was to wag a bony middle finger at the industry and sometimes the listener, then mission accomplished. Like I said, I was listening out of time and out of context but my sense is that PiL was still early in articulating the dub-punk sound. And while some tracks on Metal Box are quite compelling, I think the overall effect has been better realized elsewhere. In the end, this is a record I’ve mostly wanted to put back in the box.

The music is cool on the first few songs. The bass is nice and heavy. Then you get to poptones and it sounds like everyone just played a different song while Lydon yells poptones. His “singing” is shit. The rest of the album is unremarkable 1001 album worthy: No - 46/82

#496. This shits fucking weird, bro. Just another filler album to get to that magic number, it seems. 2/5: not

Not my fave PIL.

I hate John Lydon and I hate post-punk and I hate long songs, but this honestly wasn’t too bad. Kind of droning and trancy. It helps if you only kind of halfway listen to it. The singing is really the worst part. The playing is also bad but not as bad as the singing. This is pretty bad.

Not my jam

PiL is interesting - but not in a good way.

That first song was extremely annoying, but things did get slightly better afterwards. I’ll give this 2 stars rather than 1 purely because this seems like it was pretty unique and experimental at the time (and still now tbf).

I actually enjoyed the first 5 minutes of this… until I checked and there were still 5 minutes left…. of the first song

Eh, so yep Lydon’s vocals are terrible. And I did think at one point they could be improvising and then I checked Wikipedia and I was right. I don’t really get it. The bass grooves are the highlight

Expected to like this a lot more than I actually did. A lot of the songs have very grating vocals, which ruined it a bit for me. Favourite tracks: Albatross and Socialist. 2/5

The bass and rhythm guitar on this are pretty interesting, but the writing and vocals are quite annoying.

Just the instrumentals actually may be a better album. This moan talking is pretty annoying after track one.

Did not know PIL had so many albums dating back to the late ‘70s. This one was a lot of noise with a few alright songs.

Not a sound I enjoy but a complete sound.

An endurance test. I wish I liked it more.

Jostain syystä en ole valmis täysin sivuuttamaan tätä. Ehkä siksi, että bändi keksii Billie Jeanin ekassa biisissä? No ei ihan, mutta bassolla saa ihmeitä aikaan.

Even though there were many things I didn’t like about this album, I really enjoyed the bass sound and production. Favorite song was ‘Swan Lake’ but many cool bass licks throughout. Vocals took this down a bit, and things were a bit overlong. I enjoyed this more the longer I listened but not really my cup of tea

Rating: 4/10 I respect this album a lot. It takes many risks and it's incredibly unique but the vocals make a lot of the songs unlistenable. Instrumentally very interesting but towards the end that also starts to wear off. Shoutout to Jah Wobble for the cool bass lines. The highlights are great but the lows are absolutely atrocious, this album probably has some of the worst vocals ever recorded.

Johnny Rotten and company. Some will love this album because of its history, but it’s also dated.

Not quite as terrible as the debut, but Metal Box is still difficult - excessive runtime and the always terrible John Lydon. The rhythm section keeps this from bieng a disaster.

Well, this hasn't been the worst thing I've heard on this project? So there's that? Part of me wanted to like this dance-y post punk vibe, but the vocals honestly make this album fairly intolerable. I can even get past the crappy production to a certain extent. But those vocals grate. A very low 2.

nun ja, post-punk mit ex-sex-pistols-frontman. anspruchsvoll bis ans limit, für mich eher nicht so geeignet. bassläufe sind toll, instrumentals auch, dann aber viel, wirklich viel gleichförmig eintöniges. naahhh!!