''Killing Puritans'' is the fourth studio album by
Armand van Helden released in 2000. It was released as CD and as quadruple vinyl.
Controversy
The album's cover art prominently featured an African child soldier, prone, and aiming a rifle. The image was controversial enough to threaten the album to be banned worldwide. Eventually, UK versions of the album were sold in a plain brown cardboard sleeve that concealed the offending image.
Track listing
Critical reception
Critical reception to the album was varied, with coverage ranging from mostly positive, to mixed to significantly negative.
A reviewer for
AllMusic
AllMusic (previously known as All Music Guide and AMG) is an American online music database. It catalogs more than three million album entries and 30 million tracks, as well as information on musicians and bands. Initiated in 1991, the databa ...
felt that the music was better suited to nightclubs rather than personal listening, with heavy club themes alongside freestyle rapping and "diva theatrics". The music was generally considered to be an enjoyable blend of several different genres but lacking in anything to make it a true hit.
An ''
NME
''New Musical Express'' (''NME'') is a British music, film, gaming, and culture website and brand. Founded as a newspaper in 1952, with the publication being referred to as a 'rock inkie', the NME would become a magazine that ended up as a f ...
'' review was generally positive towards the music quality of the songs played, again noting of the skill set across multiple genres. However it was criticized for its attempts to claim social relevance, particularly in relation to Armand's claims to breaks taboos, while failing to make any clear-cut social indication and is instead similar to the dance industry most criticized by the author.
A critic for ''
LA Weekly'' called ''Killing Puritans'' "a very bad album, both in its politics and its sound.", indicating that the mix of genres complimented elsewhere, in fact reduced any coherence of the album rendering it as a mixture of songs - with further criticism of most of their quality.
A review in ''
Exclaim!'' gave a mixed analysis of ''Killing Puritans''. Many of the songs have their musical competence complimented "eclectic, energetic and full of attitude"; but contrasts them with stodgy performance elsewhere. Several songs come in for particular criticism lyrically as standard dance culture and not up to prior music by Armand.
Charts
Release history
References
2000 albums
Armand Van Helden albums
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