Although it's similar in style to the band's first three, numerically named releases, The Spell transcends more-of-the-sameness with the strategic addition of some elements culled from Amore and a further honing of the band's unmistakable sound.  Full text...

A fifth studio album from the critically acclaimed Black Heart Procession, The Spell has been four years in the making - which is a fact made clear as day within the first few bars of opener Tangled. Bleak and broody music has never been quite so thrilling.  Full text...

Expansive and mysterious, The Spell is a challenging, yet not standoffish listen.  Full text...

Pall Jenkins and Tobias Nathaniel writhe in pleasure—they pop; vessels, lead balloons, music.   Full text...

With fifth album 'The Spell' a rearrangement of personal has led to the band recording their fullest record to date, a distillation of their sound through further exploration of the barbs that inevitably surround affairs of the heart.  Full text...

The Spell doesn't just pass through you; it seeps into you. Without a doubt, one of the best albums I've heard in some time.  Full text...

The Spell is Black Heart Procession's best album, cohesive though it lacks the conceptual arc of its predecessor, and dynamically arranged, with the sense of interplay that flows naturally from a working band.  Full text...

“The Spell” is an album.  Full text...

After waiting so long for this record to come out, I was pleasantly surprised that time had not taken its toll on the group. The results are just as good as any previous Black Heart Procession release.  Full text...

The total is nice enough, unhurried and refreshingly clear as pizzicato strings never battle with long, droll organs, and as, sometimes, simple vocal melody is strangely satisfying, as in "The Letter's" chorus.  Full text...

This is woozy Americana wrapped fast in thick swathes of serrated menace. Misery never seemed so appealing.   Full text...

The Black Heart Procession has taken a step backward would be inaccurate, as the real problem with The Spell is that the band stays exactly where it is. What was once a unique offshoot from a truly unique band has stumbled into creative rut.  Full text...