Pixies The Night the Zombies Came

Critic's Take

Pixies carry their signature chaos and charm into The Night the Zombies Came, and the best songs - notably “Primrose” and “Hypnotised” - show why. The opener “Primrose” is immediately alluring with its downhome melody and surf-punk guitars, while “Hypnotised” pairs an irresistible hook with eerie pop sensibility. The surprising growth on “Chicken” and the second-single energy of “You’re So Impatient” mark the album's high points, even as slower moments dilute the impact. Overall, the album offers flashes of classic Pixies that will answer searches for the best tracks on The Night the Zombies Came without fully recreating past glories.

Key Points

• “Hypnotised” is the best song because its irresistible, eerie hook captures classic Pixies appeal in a concise pop form.
• The album's core strengths are its flashes of raw energy, haunting melodies, and playful darkness that recall the band’s signature sound.

Themes

Critic's Take

Pixies deliver on familiar textures across The Night the Zombies Came, and the best songs - notably “Oyster Beds” and “The Vegas Suite” - are where the band truly rips again. Patrick Gill’s voice is measured and wry, noting how tracks like “Motoroller” and “Mercy Me” mix grim themes with arena-scale hooks, while quieter moments like “Primrose” provide dreamlike contrast. The reviewer rewards the record for moments of dexterity and purist-friendly guitar work, even as he concedes a few uninspired cuts. This keeps the album positioned as a solid later-period Pixies release rather than a reinvention, answering searches for the best tracks on The Night the Zombies Came with clear highlights grounded in the reviewer's taste.

Key Points

• “Oyster Beds” is the best song because it demonstrates the band still 'rips' with straightforward punk energy.
• The album's core strength is balancing Pixies' signature surf and punk textures with thematic horror imagery and moments of dexterity.

Themes

Critic's Take

In her lively take, Neve Dawson argues that Pixies’s The Night the Zombies Came finds its clearest moments in songs like “Primrose” and “Mercy Me”, which she groups as poignant “Dust Bowl Songs” and praises for their cinematic, Gothic storytelling. She singles out “You’re So Impatient” as classic Pixies - needling guitars and gritty alt-rock that feel instantly familiar - while “Chicken” is described with wicked humour as a poster track for the grotesque. The review keeps a fond, approving tone, insisting the band conserve their veteran sound yet still spin small twists of originality for listeners seeking visionary daydreams.

Key Points

• ‘Primrose’ stands out as a Dust Bowl-style highlight, delivering cinematic, gothic storytelling.
• The album's core strengths are its veteran alt-rock identity refreshed with country-tinged balladry and imaginative, dark mysticism.

Themes

Critic's Take

There is a weary, rueful tone in Phil Mongredien's reading of Pixies' The Night the Zombies Came, which frames the best songs as small, infrequent pleasures rather than triumphant returns. He highlights “You’re So Impatient” and “Oyster Beds” as moments where energy is briefly injected, but treats them as more huff-and-puff than game-changing. The oddity of “Chicken” — a song starting from the perspective of a decapitated chicken — earns a rueful nod, yet the record overall is judged by the reviewer as an echo of former glories. This is a review that answers the question of the best tracks on The Night the Zombies Came with guarded, nostalgic disappointment rather than enthusiasm.

Key Points

• The best song moments are brief injections of energy, notably on "You’re So Impatient", but they rarely transcend nostalgia.
• The album's core strength is sporadic, familiar Pixies touches - surf-guitar inflections and restrained vocals - but not memorable songwriting.

Themes

Critic's Take

Pixies sound quietly sure on The Night the Zombies Came, their veteran loud-and-quiet craft intact and oddly comforting. Black Francis still bolts ideas together with a Frankenstein’s-monster technique, and that strange collage is precisely why tracks like “The Vegas Suite” and “Motoroller” feel like the best songs on the record. Joey Santiago’s sparkling guitar and Emma Richardson’s bass backing keep the momentum, so when “Primrose” purrs the band’s class and sass are on full display. For anyone asking what the best tracks on The Night the Zombies Came are, the review points squarely to these anthemic moments and swirls of melody that stick long after the final note.

Key Points

• The Vegas Suite stands out as an anthemic highlight thanks to a surreal, memorable line singled out by the reviewer.
• The album’s core strengths are its honed loud-and-quiet dynamics, Black Francis’s collage songwriting, and Santiago’s sparkling guitar.

Themes

Critic's Take

Pixies sound reinvigorated on The Night the Zombies Came, where the band’s idiosyncratic revenants yield memorable moments like “Hypnotised” and “Jane (The Night the Zombies Came)”. The review revels in the album’s ancient revisionism and bell-pretty hooks, praising “The Vegas Suite” and the sombre textures of “I Hear You Mary”. It notes a move away from foundational rampage toward crafted forms - the sestina-modelled lyrics of “Hypnotised” epitomize that shift. The tone is admiring and measured, declaring that this most thrillingly deathly of bands remains alive.

Key Points

• Hypnotised is the standout due to its inventive sestina-modeled lyrics and acute ancient revisionism.
• The album’s core strengths are crafted hooks, evocative atmosphere, and a measured reinvigoration of the band’s sound.

Themes

Critic's Take

On The Night the Zombies Came Pixies settle into late-career, cinematic rock, with a few clear best tracks standing out. The record eases in with “Primrose”, whose acoustic strums and Richardson backing vocals set a warm tone, and the ominous layering of “Jane (The Night the Zombies Came)” marks one of the album’s more memorable moments. For punch and momentum, “You’re So Impatient” and the motorized rush of “Oyster Beds” supply the liveliest bursts, while “Chicken” is the over-the-top showpiece with a excellent guitar outro. The collection is serviceable and varied - solid but not atop their early classics.

Key Points

• Primrose is best for its warm acoustic opening and Richardson’s backing vocals that frame the album.
• The album’s core strengths are its cinematic scope and varied textures that balance heavier rock with acoustic and folksy moments.

Themes

Critic's Take

In his typically rueful and wry voice Noah Barker finds the best moments on The Night the Zombies Came to be the brief, propulsive cuts that function as festival-ready barnburners - think the three-minute blasts that keep bodies moving rather than songs that aspire to depth. Barker repeatedly singles out the title track, “Jane (The Night the Zombies Came)”, and other sub-three-minute rippers as the album's chief attractions and failings, praising their energy while lamenting thin melodies. The review frames the best tracks as serviceable crowd-pleasers, and the reason they stand out is simple: urgency and instinct, not invention.

Key Points

• The best songs are the short, propulsive tracks that function as festival-ready crowd-pleasers rather than deep compositions.
• The album's core strength is raw, instinctive energy, but it is undermined by thin melodies and a reliance on past glories.

Themes

Critic's Take

Pixies' tenth record, The Night the Zombies Came, finds its best songs in the quieter, more arresting moments - think “Primrose” and “Mercy Me”. Kelly Murphy's tone is appreciative and precise, noting how the band balances punk energy with dreamlike restraint, so the best tracks on The Night the Zombies Came are those that let Richardson's harmonies and Black Francis's vocals breathe. The result is an album where the standout ballads provide the clearest emotional payoff, while punchier cuts keep the pace varied and alive. This makes searching for the best tracks on The Night the Zombies Came

Key Points

• The best song is 'Mercy Me' because its restrained, Lou Reed-like delivery and Richardson's harmonies create the album's clearest emotional payoff.
• The album's core strengths are its balance of punk energy and haunting balladry, meticulous sequencing, and the fresh addition of Emma Richardson's harmonies.

Themes

Critic's Take

Pixies sound unmistakably themselves on The Night the Zombies Came, with opener “Primrose”, the country-tinged “Johnny Good Man” and the title-linked “Kings of the Prairie” serving as clear highlights. Emma Swann’s voice rings through the review in a celebratory, slightly bemused register - noting how the band slips between jolly, dreamy and sprightly moods, especially on “Hypnotised” and the sprawling “The Vegas Suite”. The record rewards listeners when it deviates from expectation, from the blues-punk skip of “Ernest Evans” to the ’70s punk snap of “Oyster Beds”, making the best tracks feel both familiar and freshly audacious.

Key Points

• The best songs are those that sound unmistakably Pixies while still finding fresh twists, notably “Primrose” and “Johnny Good Man”.
• The album’s core strengths are playful wordplay, genre pastiche, and a willingness to deviate from expectations into jolly, dreamy and exuberant territory.

Themes

Critic's Take

Pixies's The Night the Zombies Came finds its best tracks where new harmonies and jagged guitars meet, notably “Chicken” and “Motoroller”. The reviewer's eye lingers on moments like “Mercy Me” too, where Emma Richardson's Beatles-esque harmonies become among the most conventionally beautiful in the band's catalogue. There's praise for Joey Santiago's riotous guitar on songs such as “You’re So Impatient” and “Ernest Evans” as engines of energy. Overall the record is described as a surefooted step forward that reconciles past strengths with the band's new lineup.

Key Points

• The best song moments combine Richardson’s harmonies with Santiago’s guitar, especially on “Motoroller.”
• The album’s strengths are its refreshed lineup, prominent harmonies, and Santiago’s energized guitar work that reconcile past and new directions.

Themes