Tori Amos In Times of Dragons

Critic's Take

Tori Amos sounds fearless on In Times of Dragons, a concept album where the best tracks - “Provincetown” and the title track - marry potent lyrics with irresistible melody in the exact way Amos intends. The reviewer's voice celebrates how “Provincetown” and “In Times of Dragons” demonstrate her ability to match lyric potency with very catchy melody, while “Song of Sorrow” is singled out as achingly beautiful and evocative of great pop-rock. The duet “Stronger Together” is noted as perhaps the best collaboration with her daughter, fitting the story while remaining intimately personal. Overall the critic writes that the album flows beautifully, is exquisitely produced, and stands as a masterpiece of mood, melody and narrative craft.

Key Points

• “Provincetown” is the best track because it pairs potent lyrics with an irresistibly catchy melody that anchors the album.
• The album’s core strengths are its storytelling concept, evocative melodies, and immaculate production that enhance mood and emotion.

Themes

Critic's Take

Tori Amos returns with a fierce, piano-driven triumph on In Times of Dragons, and the best tracks here underline that reclamation. The brutal opener “Shush” lands as an instant classic, a gut punch about patriarchy and power that propels the record. Elsewhere, the climactic “Tempest” and the atmospheric closer “23 Peaks” showcase Amos revitalized, her voice and piano turning trauma into catharsis. Lighter moments like “Strawberry Moon” and “Gasoline Girls” balance the darkness, making these among the best songs on In Times of Dragons for their emotional range and sonic invention.

Key Points

• The best song, "Shush", is the album's emotional and political linchpin, combining ominous piano and martial drums into a devastating statement.
• The album's core strength is turning personal and political trauma into cathartic, piano-driven storytelling with renewed sonic focus.

Themes

Critic's Take

Tori Amos returns with In Times of Dragons, a mythic, often bruising record whose best songs—“Shush”, “Strawberry Moon” and the towering closer “23 Peaks”—drive its personal allegory forward. Joe Vallese writes with the affectionate precision of a lifelong fan, admiring how “Shush” propulsively nods to her past while “Strawberry Moon” anchors a gorgeous three-song arc. He reserves his greatest praise for “23 Peaks”, calling it a towering achievement that crystallizes the album’s themes of change and becoming. The narrative tone is elegiac but incisive, framing these songs as the record’s emotional and thematic center.

Key Points

• The best song is "23 Peaks" because it crystallizes the album’s themes and is called a towering, uniquely human achievement.
• The album’s core strengths are allegorical storytelling, emotional candor, and Amos’s embrace of vocal change and mythic transformation.

Themes

Critic's Take

Tori Amos retains her uncanny knack for intimate mythmaking on In Times of Dragons, and the best songs on the album - particularly “Shush” and “Veins” - crystallize that power. Johnston-like observation: Amos attacks the Bösendorfer on “Shush” with growing fury, while the duet on “Veins” with Natashya Hawley gives the record its most palpable emotional payoff. The album’s quieter triumphs, from the spectral “St. Teresa” to the hymnlike closer “23 Peaks”, keep the narrative urgency intact, making these the best tracks on In Times of Dragons for listeners seeking lyric-driven catharsis.

Key Points

• “Shush” is the best song because its furious piano and narrative of silencing-to-voice reclaim the album’s central drama.
• The album’s core strength is its blend of confessional piano songwriting and mythic, mystical storytelling, anchored by mother-daughter vocals.

Themes

Critic's Take

In this review Marie Hascoët traces the best tracks on In Times of Dragons as moments of clarity in Tori Amos’s sprawling fable. She foregrounds “Shush” as the wake-up call that propels the heroine and highlights “Ode to Minnesota” for its explicit activist reference, while the cathartic “23 Peaks” is described as the record’s emotional summit. Hascoët’s voice remains observant and poetic, arguing that these songs - especially “Shush”, “Ode to Minnesota” and “23 Peaks” - crystallize Amos’s strength at turning political anxiety into a mythic, personal odyssey.

Key Points

• The best song, "Shush", is the album’s galvanizing opener that restores the heroine’s voice.
• The album’s core strengths are its mythic storytelling and its fusion of personal and political themes.

Critic's Take

Tori Amos sounds older, wearier and sometimes raspy across In Times of Dragons, and yet the best tracks - “Shush” and “23 Peaks” - still carry her mythic ambition and allegorical bite. Sal Cinquemani notes that the husky, lived-in quality of her voice lends gravitas to “Shush” and to reverent moments like “St. Teresa”, even as the record occasionally longs for more intricate arrangements. The delicate call-and-response with her daughter on “Strawberry Moon” and “Veins” offers emotional depth, but it is the triumphant, tragic sweep of “23 Peaks” that the reviewer names the album's fully realized closer. Overall, the critic frames the album as a closing of a circle, tracing older motifs through America-as-hell imagery while praising specific songs for their compositional ambition and emotional resonance.

Key Points

• The album's best song is "23 Peaks" because it combines allegorical lyricism with orchestral and prog-rock fusion to achieve a tragic, triumphant apex.
• The core strengths are mythic ambition, maternal themes, and moments of strong composition despite vocal limitations.

Themes

Critic's Take

If you want the best songs on In Times of Dragons, the record keeps returning to ornate payoff rather than broad spectacle. Tori Amos finds real compositional clarity in “Provincetown” with its harpsichord flourish, and the album’s high-water mark is “Blue Lotus”, which mixes Boys for Pele baroque filigree with The Beekeeper warmth. Those two tracks show why listeners searching for the best tracks on In Times of Dragons will find the record rewarding in moments, even as the album’s literal political thrust sometimes bluntly undercuts its ambition.

Key Points

• “Provincetown” is the album’s standout for reviving the harpsichord and delivering a controlled, ornate prog-rock edge.
• The album’s strengths are its vivid musical moments and rich character work, but literal political language and self-indulgence dilute overall impact.

Themes

Critic's Take

Tori Amos fashions In Times of Dragons as a tug-of-war between Celtic myth and blunt political anger, and the best tracks show that tension most clearly. “Shush” opens in a molten onslaught, its harsh chords and menace making it one of the best songs on In Times of Dragons. Provincetown is another standout - pulsing with fear for the country, it gives the album its clearest political voice. St. Teresa supplies a slow, ominous groove and a spiky, cascading hook that marks it among the better tracks.

Key Points

• Shush is the best song for its molten, menacing opening that recalls Amos's rawer peak.
• The album's core strengths are its furious emotional thrust and focused, propulsive material despite uneven cohesion.

Themes