XTRMNTR

XTRMNTR (pronounced "Exterminator") is the sixth studio album by Scottish rock band Primal Scream. It was first released on 31 January 2000 in the United Kingdom by Creation Records and on 2 May 2000 in the United States by Astralwerks.^[1] It peaked at number 3 on the UK Albums Chart.^[2]

XTRMNTR
Studio album by Primal Scream
Released	31 January 2000 (2000-01-31)
Genre	Electro-rock shoegazing noise rock alternative dance electro-industrial experimental
Length	60:24
Label	Creation Astralwerks
Producer	Brendan Lynch Primal Scream Jagz Kooner David Holmes Hugo Nicolson The Chemical Brothers Kevin Shields Tim Holmes Dan the Automator
Primal Scream chronology
Echo Dek (1997) XTRMNTR (2000) Evil Heat (2002)
Singles from XTRMNTR
"Swastika Eyes" Released: 15 November 1999 "Kill All Hippies" Released: 20 March 2000 "Accelerator" Released: 11 September 2000

In a departure from their earlier, more hedonistic recordings, the band took a more political stance on the album, attacking government, police, and multinational corporations. Its sound is more aggressive and forceful than Primal Scream's previous output, with noisy, harsh, electronic sounds reminiscent of industrial music forming the basis for many of its songs. Although Gary Mounfield (aka Mani) joined the band in 1997 and recorded a selection of tracks on their previous album Vanishing Point (1997), it marked the first time he shared songwriting credits with them, as well as his first full album since his time with The Stone Roses.

Kevin Shields of My Bloody Valentine was seen as a "semi-permanent member" of the band around the release of the album by performing live, helping producing the album and playing on songs. The album also features contributions from The Chemical Brothers and Bernard Sumner of New Order.^[3]

The album is notable for being the final full-length release on Creation Records, with the track "Accelerator" later lifted to become the final single released on the label.

Critical reception

Professional ratings

Aggregate scores
Source	Rating
Metacritic	90/100^[4]
Review scores
Source	Rating
AllMusic	^[5]
Alternative Press	4/5^[6]
Entertainment Weekly	B+^[7]
The Guardian	^[8]
The List	^[9]
NME	9/10^[10]
Pitchfork	8.1/10^[11]
Q	^[12]
Rolling Stone	^[13]
The Rolling Stone Album Guide	^[14]

At Metacritic, which assigns a weighted average score out of 100 to reviews from mainstream critics, the album received an average score of 90, based on 16 reviews, indicating "universal acclaim".^[4]

NME magazine rated XTRMNTR #2 in its "Top 50 Albums of the Year 2000",^[15] and later at the NME Carling Awards 2001, it won "Best Album" of the year. Uncut, like NME, named it at #2 on their list of the best albums of 2000.^[16]

Over the years, it has gathered more praise, including appearances on lists of the top albums of the 2000s: NME placed it at #3 of their top 50 albums of decade list^[17] and Pitchfork placed it at #142 in its Top 200 Albums of the 2000s list.^[18] Metacritic placed it at #20 of the 40 best reviewed albums released 2000–9.^[19] In 2001, Q magazine named it as one of the "50 Heaviest Albums of All Time".^[20] Praising the production, Stylus Magazine included the album on their 2006 list of the "Top Ten Best Sounding Records, 1997–Present",^[21] and later ranked the album at number 10 on their "Stylus Decade" list of the "Top 100 Albums of the 2000s".^{[citation needed]}

In October 2011, NME placed "Swastika Eyes" at #45 and "Accelerator" at #114 on its list "150 Best Tracks of the Past 15 Years".^[22][23] In 2014, they ranked "Shoot Speed/Kill Light" at #190 and "Accelerator" at #497 and in their list of the "500 Greatest Songs of All Time".^[24]

Referring to the 2013 update, the album ranks at number 160 in NME's The 500 Greatest Albums of All Time.^[25]

In 2019, the album was ranked 65th on The Guardian's 100 Best Albums of the 21st Century list.^[26]

Track listing

All tracks are written by Primal Scream, except where noted

No.	Title	Writer(s)	Length
1.	"Kill All Hippies"	Primal Scream M. Nelson Discovery Productions Inc.	4:57
2.	"Accelerator"		3:41
3.	"Exterminator"		5:49
4.	"Swastika Eyes" (Jagz Kooner Mix)		7:05
5.	"Pills"		4:17
6.	"Blood Money"		7:03
7.	"Keep Your Dreams"	Mani	5:24
8.	"Insect Royalty"		3:35
9.	"MBV Arkestra (If They Move Kill 'Em)"		6:41
10.	"Swastika Eyes" (Chemical Brothers Mix)		6:33
11.	"Shoot Speed/Kill Light"		5:19

2009 Japanese reissue edition: Disc 1

No.	Title	Length
1.	"Kill All Hippies"	4:57
2.	"Accelerator"	3:41
3.	"Exterminator"	5:49
4.	"Swastika Eyes" (Jagz Kooner mix)	7:05
5.	"Pills"	4:17
6.	"Blood Money"	7:03
7.	"Keep Your Dreams"	5:24
8.	"Insect Royalty"	3:35
9.	"MBV Arkestra (If They Move Kill 'Em)"	6:41
10.	"Swastika Eyes (War Pigs)" (Chemical Brothers mix)	6:33
11.	"Shoot Speed/Kill Light"	5:19
12.	"I'm 5 Years Ahead of My Time" (The Third Bardo cover)	4:08
13.	"Swastika Eyes" (Spectre mix)	8:10
14.	"Swastika Eyes" (David Holmes mix)	6:01

2009 Japanese reissue edition: Disc 2

No.	Title	Length
1.	"Kill All Hippies" (Two Lone Swordsmen #2)	5:49
2.	"Exterminator" (Massive Attack remix)	5:10
3.	"Exterminator" (Jagz Kooner remix)	5:38
4.	"When The Kingdom Comes"	4:22
5.	"Hammond Connection"	3:40

Personnel

Credits adapted from liner notes.

Primal Scream

• Bobby Gillespie – vocals, guitar, samples
• Andrew Innes – guitar
• Robert Young – guitar, programming
• Martin Duffy – keyboards, programming
• Gary 'Mani' Mounfield – bass
• Darrin Mooney – drums
• Jim Hunt – saxophone
• Duncan Mackay – trumpet

Additional musicians

• Marco Nelson
• Kevin Shields
• Bernard Sumner
• Phil Mossman
• Darren Morris
• Zac Danziger
• Brendan Lynch
• Greg Knowles
• Gay-Yee Westerhoff
• Keith Tenniswood

Production

• Primal Scream – production (1, 2, 3), recording
• Brendan Lynch – production (1, 2, 3, 11), co-production (1, 3), recording (2, 3, 11)
• Kevin Shields – production (11), mixing (2, 9)
• Adrian Maxwell Sherwood – recording (6, 7)
• Jagz Kooner – production (4), mixing (4), programming (7)
• David Holmes – production (6, 7), co-production (6)
• Hugo Nicolson – production (8), co-production (8), mixing (8)
• The Chemical Brothers – production (10), mixing (10)
• Tim Holmes – production (11)
• Dan the Automator – production (5), mixing (5)
• Andy Wilkinson – engineering (2, 9)
• Jon Weiner – engineering (6)
• Alan Branch – recording (6, 7)

Charts

Chart	Peak position
Australian Albums (ARIA)^[27]	17
Finnish Albums (Suomen virallinen lista)^[28]	27
New Zealand Albums (RMNZ)^[29]	17
Norwegian Albums (VG-lista)^[30]	15
Swedish Albums (Sverigetopplistan)^[31]	7
UK Albums (OCC)^[2]	3

Certifications

Region	Certification	Certified units/sales
Japan (RIAJ)^[32]	Gold	100,000^^
^^ Shipments figures based on certification alone.

References

1. "XTRMNTR - Primal Scream | Releases | AllMusic". AllMusic.
2. "Official Albums Chart Top 100". Official Charts Company. Retrieved 4 March 2020.
3. "Revisiting Kevin Shields' stint in Primal Scream". faroutmagazine.co.uk. 2 December 2021. Retrieved 19 September 2022.
4. "Reviews for XTRMNTR by Primal Scream". Metacritic. Retrieved 7 March 2016.
5. Carlson, Dean. "XTRMNTR – Primal Scream". AllMusic. Retrieved 7 March 2016.
6. "Primal Scream: XTRMNTR". Alternative Press (142): 75. May 2000.
7. Weingarten, Marc (19 May 2000). "XTRMNTR". Entertainment Weekly. Retrieved 7 March 2016.
8. Cox, Tom (21 January 2000). "The sound and the fury". The Guardian.
9. Robertson, Mark (20 January 2000). "Primal Scream: Exterminator (Creation)". The List (378): 42. Retrieved 1 March 2017.
10. Cameron, Keith (25 January 2000). . NME. Archived from the original on 29 February 2000. Retrieved 7 March 2016.
11. DiCrescenzo, Brent (30 April 2000). "Primal Scream: XTRMNTR". Pitchfork. Retrieved 7 March 2016.
12. Maconie, Stuart (March 2000). . Q (162): 110. Archived from the original on 20 November 2000. Retrieved 30 August 2018.
13. Hendrickson, Matt (11 May 2000). . Rolling Stone. No. 840. Archived from the original on 2 May 2002. Retrieved 7 March 2016.
14. Sheffield, Rob (2004). "Primal Scream". In Brackett, Nathan; Hoard, Christian (eds.). The New Rolling Stone Album Guide (4th ed.). Simon & Schuster. p. 654. ISBN 0-7432-0169-8.
15. NME (30 December 2000, page 77)
16. "Rocklist.net ... Uncut Recordings of the Year Lists. ..." rocklistmusic.co.uk. Retrieved 28 July 2016.
17. NME magazine staff (17 November 2009). "The Strokes' 'Is This It' tops NME albums of the decade list". NME. Retrieved 22 November 2009.
18. Stuart Berman (29 September 2009). . Pitchfork. Archived from the original on 2 October 2009. Retrieved 30 October 2012.
19. Jason Dietz (15 December 2009). "Ten Years of Metacritic: The Best Music of the Decade". Metacritic. Retrieved 16 October 2011.
20. Q magazine staff (July 2001). "Q 50 Heaviest Albums of All Time". Q magazine. Retrieved 22 November 2009.
21. "Top Ten Best Sounding Records, 1997–Present – Staff Top 10 – Stylus Magazine". stylusmagazine.com. Retrieved 28 July 2016.
22. "150 Best Tracks of the Past 15 Years | NME.COM". NME. Retrieved 28 July 2016.
23. "150 Best Tracks of the Past 15 Years | NME.COM". NME. Retrieved 28 July 2016.
24. "Rocklist.net ... NME The 500 Greatest Songs Of All Time.. 2014". rocklistmusic.co.uk. Retrieved 28 July 2016.
25. "Rocklist.net ... NME: The 500 Greatest Albums Of All Time : October 2013". rocklistmusic.co.uk. Retrieved 28 July 2016.
26. "The 100 best albums of the 21st century". The Guardian. 13 September 2019. Retrieved 18 September 2019.
27. "Australiancharts.com – Primal Scream – Xtrmntr". Hung Medien. Retrieved 4 March 2020.
28. "Primal Scream: Xtrmntr" (in Finnish). Musiikkituottajat – IFPI Finland. Retrieved 4 March 2020.
29. "Charts.nz – Primal Scream – Xtrmntr". Hung Medien. Retrieved 4 March 2020.
30. "Norwegiancharts.com – Primal Scream – Xtrmntr". Hung Medien. Retrieved 4 March 2020.
31. "Swedishcharts.com – Primal Scream – Xtrmntr". Hung Medien. Retrieved 4 March 2020.
32. "Japanese album certifications – Primal Scream – XTRMNTR" (in Japanese). Recording Industry Association of Japan. Select 2000年11月 on the drop-down menu

External links

• XTRMNTR at Discogs (list of releases)