Icky Thump (2007)

Rolling Stone (p.110)
- Included in Rolling Stone's "50 Top Albums of the Year 2007" -- "Delta-garage wallop made from the fewest, finest ingredients."

Entertainment Weekly (p.68)
- "Whether howling or crooning, picking or ripping, Jack comes across as earnest and fully invested in every ICKY moment." -- Grade: A

Uncut (p.92)
- 4 stars out of 5 -- "By turns direct, quizzical, loose, and intense, it's more eclectic in terms of approach than any previous White Stripes recording."

Vibe (p.72)
- "THUMP is a return to form....It sounds like everything here was written on a guitar, bursting with razor-wire anthems..."

Kerrang (Magazine)
(p.57)
- "[T]he most obvious inspiration throughout is Led Zeppelin....It confirms Detroit's biggest band as a singular talent and a genuinely great American band."

Q (Magazine)
(p.88)
- Ranked #02 in Q's "The 50 Best Albums Of 2007" -- "[A] classic White Stripes record."

Entertainment Weekly 9 of 10
Whether howling or crooning, picking or ripping, Jack comes across as earnest and fully invested in every ICKY moment. Grade A
 
Pitchfork 8 of 10
Icky Thump also treats us to a band that once again seems comfortable with its broken-in sounds, from the reverb-thud hammer of "Little Cream Soda" and the British Invasion 12-bar of "300 MPH Torrential Outpour Blues" to the back-porch ditty of "Effect & Cause". - Rob Mitchum
 
NME 9 of 10
'Icky Thump' is brilliant, there's no way around that. We've come to expect nothing less from The White Stripes, but it still sends a jolt down the spine when you hear them at the very apex of their abilities. Some might consider this record a little too eclectic, zipping as it does between genres and styles like a red-and-white magpie, but it'll take a monumental effort by any band this year to top it - Barry Nicolson
 
Rolling Stone 7 of 10
...that's the scoop on the architecture here. Jack hauled more than bagpipes to his garage to make Icky Thump, which is easily his loudest album - maybe he found a beat-up Marshall stack somewhere or a tube amp forgotten by history. Although the new constructions don't entice as consistently as they should, their noise stays with you. And what that noise stands for is itself. - Robert Christgau
 
Blender 9 of 10
It's the sound of a band not stretching out so much as digging in: burrowing deeper into loamy soil they know well
 
Pitchfork 8 of 10
The highest highs of Icky can't quite reach the altitude of the band's breakthrough singles, but some of that inadequacy is tempered by the group's more robust sound.
 
Pop Matters 8 of 10
The new album manages to hone the at-points-aimless progressive aspirations of Get Behind Me Satan into sharp, clear-cut musical growth
 
The New York Times 7 of 10
Its rock is louder, its campiness richer. - Ben Ratliff