does—androgynizing [their] words to accompany the cold music, mimicking the synth warbles and sustained tones that abound." The Independent critic Rupert Howe expressed, "Even beyond the gothic imagery and glacial electronics, this mesmeric solo project shares much with the Knife's last album Silent Shout", including "surreal lyrics" and "weird vocal treatments which pitch [Dreijer]'s voice down to a baleful masculine groan". Jonathan Keefe of Slant Magazine found that the album is "built upon contrasts. Most notably, [Dreijer]'s Fever Ray persona draws attention to [their] work as half of the Knife [...] Whereas the Knife is ostensibly a dance act, Fever Ray emphasizes tone over rhythm." In a review rated 7.5 out of 10, XLR8R wrote that it "retains real emotional heft" and compared it to the likes of Madonna, Siouxsie and the Banshees and PJ Harvey. Alexander Tudor wrote for Drowned in Sound that "minimal beats on each track prove to have been constructed with incredible attention to detail, as are the smooth synth washes, and electronic simulacra of birdcall or animal noises. The tempo may be nightmarishly unvaried, track after track, but it's composed of glitches [and] bouncing balls", citing "Keep the Streets Empty for Me" as the album's best track. In a review for AllMusic, Heather Phares opined that "Fever Ray's mix of confessional lyrics and chilly, blatantly synthetic and often harsh sounds make this album as successful an electronic singer/songwriter album as Björk's Homogenic." Phares continued, "With almost tangible textures and a striking mood of isolation and singularity, Fever Ray is a truly strange but riveting album." Alexis Petridis of The Guardian felt that the album's "dolorous chords and stately rhythms recall the Cure, circa Faith, the glacial pace makes you think of the Blue Nile", noting that, "as unlikely a step as Fever Ray may seem for one of electronic music's most enigmatic figures, the results are triumphant." BBC Music's Chris Jones called the album "bloody marvellous", while observing "a vague sense of holding pattern here rather than massive innovation. Without brother Olof as a guiding hand on the droning sequencers the tunes fall a bit by the wayside", but wrote that "this very tiny drawback doesn't stop Fever Ray from being the kind of brilliant album that it may not make sense to play if you're prone to nightmares." Accolades The Guardian named Fever Ray the second best album of 2009, calling it "[g]lacial, creepy