I think what Burial has done here are threefold:
1. He's made an album which authentically captures the wide emotional spectrum of the original hardcore rave era
2. He's used original sounding beats, sounds and processes that instantly identify his music
3. He obviously is a proper musician as the songs on this album have a musical content way above what you normally expect from the electronic scene.
Overall, very refreshing in the face of the usual spiritless fodder we've been served this decade. Long live music like this!

This is an unbelievably good album. I think it's the best dubstep album ever produced. It took me a good year to realize how good it is, not wanting to really listen to the R`n`B vocals that Burial samples. However, I found myself returning again and again to this masterpiece and it has really settled deep into me.

The music is intense and full of emotion. Untrue starts off very vulnerable with beautiful vocals in Archangel and Near Dark. It gets very dark further on in Etched Headplate and it manages to emerge from the experience with a sense of hope and relief in Raver.

The way Burial cuts up the sound in the European radio waves and transforms it into his own vision of what night and loneliness feels like is pure genius. It's like he holds a mirror to our culture and lets us hear what he hears. For me there is no better music that illustrates city life than this.

This album is as important to the UK electronic music scene as those from Aphex Twin, Plaid, Black Dog, FSOL, Boards of Canada etc. No doubt it will be held in such esteem as Massive Attack's Blue Lines or Roni Size's New Forms as being one that defines a homegrown genre.

The haunting pads and synths compliment the vocals perfectly sounding like an MK / Todd Edwards hybrid battling with hoodies in a studio somewhere. Whether it's hype or not this is a great great album - I've listened to it once and it's already up there as being influential.

Whether Burial wins the Mercury prize is neither here nor there - on the one hand new exciting music such as this should be supported to every level so Burial should win the £75,000 or whatever it is... on the other hand... I selfishly don't want the masses to discover this gem.

Disregard my last comment... everyone who has more than an interest in electronic music should check this.

This is one of the most unique sounding records of the decade. Somewhat less bleak than the first burial record, but with the same layer of white noise over it which adds a surreal warmth, even though the record is still pretty dark. There's a huge sense of that late night calm/isolation, mixed with 2-step/garage/dubstep beats. Some interesting old style rave vocals that have been pitch change processed to death. Apparently this record was made without a sequencer, and it is believable as there is this sense of nervous liveness to the tracks, it steps away from that rigid and perfectly structured sound that you often get with sequenced music.
Quite incredible.

Burial-Burial was one of the most well-received debuts of the past few years, seemingly effortlessly dubstep was put on the map (again), numerous ears were left anxious for more. Early november 2007 Burial releases a second album: ‘Untrue’, a worthy follow-up - continuing in the same gritty and melancholic style. What makes burial so neat is that his sound is raw - unpolished. sometimes almost cacophonic, chockfull of bass and sock-rocking, The samples Burial uses are inspiring and make one curious for what is next. Not everything on ‘Untrue’ is a retake of the old recipe, Burial manages to bring a bit more warmth and glee to this album - with sometimes even a hint of sunshine, he achieves this by focussing more on (sampled) vocals, understanding the words is something for a trained and patient listener, but the whole is a lovely package that deserves to be played over and over, a good reason to try that old repeat button.

I'd heard ALOT of amazing things about this album for months, then I actually got it and listened to it. Totally over-rated.
I was genuinely bored out of my mind with 85% of this album. There were a few tracks here and there that made my ears perk up for a few seconds. It didn't bore me as if I have ADHD or anything like that (I'm quite the ambient/downtempo/musique-concrete fan), but this just seemed kind of un-inspired and formulaic.

I can appreciate the production skills here. It's put together well. But it just bored me, what can I say?

As with the first album, there was a lot of hype and conjecture about this album, even before it was released. The debut album was rightfully praised by critics across the board, so all eyes were on Burial to see how he could follow it up. To be fair, Burial does a great job of promoting himself, whether he realises it or not. In a recent interview, he said this album took about 2 weeks to finish, yet I seem to remember the track "Endorphin" was uploaded onto his myspace page months previous...

Regardless of this, the music itself is very strong, taking all the hallmarks of his last album and developing on them to make a record which is powerful yet accessible. There are a lot more vocals on this record, but due to the way they are implemented (pitch shifted, doused in reverb, delayed etc..) they add a ghostly, ethereal quality to the already heavily atmospheric Burial sound.

Once again, production-wise, he seems to have stuck to his near-legendary wave editor/sample approach. A few of the samples I seem to recognise (I think that deep vocal sound used in "Near Dark" and "Homeless" is lifted from the classic deep house/garage track "We Life Our Hands In The Sanctuary" by DJ Oji & DJ Una) Some of the horns and strings have been carried over from the first album too. Most remarkable of all is how he managed to turn the god awful by-the-numbers R'n'B failure "One Wish" by Ray J into something as astonishing as Archangel. Truly a feat in itself. For the most part, the source material is edited and manipulated to the point where it becomes a ghost of its original self.

Like in his first album, there are ambient interludes in this, which I feel are easily as strong as the "proper" tracks. "Dog Shelter" in particular is quite beautiful. I'd love to hear him do a full-length album of these kind of tracks one day.

As for negative criticisms, they are few and far between. It took me a long time to get past the cheese of "Etched Headplate" which still reminds me of something a chav would play at the back of the bus on his or her mobile phone. But it is slowly growing on me. I'm not entirely convinced by "Homeless" either, which is probably the weakest track on the album. The vocals just don't work in the context Burial gave them and it recycles far too many sounds from both his previous work and samples used on this album. It does however have a great breakdown about 2:40 into the track, which I wish was developed further.

As a previous reviewer mentioned, it isn't the complete paradigm shift in electronic music, which some journalists would have you believe. It is however a deeply enjoyable 50 minutes of music. Like the first album, it is better suited for home/car listening than the dancefloor and if you let it, the music is sure to touch the heart.

I've been trying all afternoon to determine if the hiss on my copy is due to the defect mentioned above or that it's just part of the music.

I think I like it anyway. It's a great album in all. Heard people complain about the vocals making it too poppy, but it doesn't bother me too much. The tracks sound more like songs, but they still have the good elements that made Burial's debut a classic. A worthy follow up and a nice addition to the first album anyway.

Is it possible to do justice to this album? Truly an awesome piece of music that manages to be emotive, exciting, mellow, dark and melancholic (in true Burial style) all at once. Near Dark is simply stunning, woodblocks, dark rave stabs running around in the back, and a vox admitting to envy. Archangel has elements not unlike Rhythm and Sound, but nothing like them, too. More darkness and vox. The entire album is the work of a genius. I didn't think it would be possible to top South London Boroughs; so, eh, what do I know?

Well I love this album, but I do think people are over-praising it. Its a good album, but its nothing that we haven't heard before. The first thing you'll notice is the amount of vocals Burial uses on this one. Personally I think all the vocals take away from the magic that the first album had. I remember getting excited hearing "Distant Lights" and "U Hurt Me" because they stood out from other tracks due to the vocals. For Untrue, its rather hard for me to pick out any standouts because they all blend in too much now. Despite my petty complaints, the album IS good and if you're a dubstep or Burial fan then you'll no doubt enjoy this one. I have to admit that Archangel is extremely catchy with it's "loving you" lyric.