Editing Metal Box (section)

==Critical reception==
{{Album ratings
| rev1 = [[AllMusic]]
| rev1score = {{Rating|5|5}}<ref name=am>{{cite web |first=Andy |last=Kellman |url=https://www.allmusic.com/album/metal-box-mw0000714559 |title=Metal Box – Public Image Ltd. |publisher=[[AllMusic]] |access-date=30 October 2020}}</ref>
| rev2 = ''[[Mojo (magazine)|Mojo]]''
| rev2score = {{Rating|5|5}}<ref>{{cite magazine |first=Pat |last=Gilbert |title=The sound and the fury |magazine=[[Mojo (magazine)|Mojo]] |issue=276 |date=November 2016 |page=100}}</ref>
| rev3 = ''[[NME]]''
| rev3score = 9/10<ref>{{cite magazine |first=Keith |last=Cameron |url=http://www.nme.com/reviews/reviews/19980101000341reviews.html |title=Public Image Ltd – Metal Box |magazine=[[NME]] |date=7 September 1996 |access-date=23 August 2016 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20001015022435/http://www.nme.com/reviews/reviews/19980101000341reviews.html |archive-date=15 October 2000 |url-status=dead}}</ref>
| rev4 = ''[[Pitchfork (website)|Pitchfork]]''
| rev4score = 10/10<ref>{{cite web |first=Simon |last=Reynolds |author-link=Simon Reynolds |url=http://pitchfork.com/reviews/albums/22374-metal-box/ |title=Public Image Ltd: Metal Box |work=[[Pitchfork (website)|Pitchfork]] |date=1 November 2016 |access-date=1 November 2016}}</ref>
| rev5 = ''[[Q (magazine)|Q]]''
| rev5score = {{Rating|5|5}}<ref>{{cite magazine |first=Niall |last=Doherty |title=PiL: Metal Box |magazine=[[Q (magazine)|Q]] |issue=366 |date=December 2016 |page=117}}</ref>
| rev6 = ''[[Rolling Stone]]''
| rev6score = {{Rating|4.5|5}}<ref>{{cite magazine |first=Rob |last=Sheffield |author-link=Rob Sheffield |url=https://www.rollingstone.com/music/albumreviews/metal-box-20061115 |title=Metal Box |magazine=[[Rolling Stone]] |date=15 November 2006 |access-date=29 May 2013}}</ref>
| rev7 = ''[[The Rolling Stone Album Guide]]''
| rev7score = {{Rating|4|5}}<ref>{{cite book |first1=Mark |last1=Coleman |first2=Michaelangelo |last2=Matos |editor1-first=Nathan |editor1-last=Brackett |editor1-link=Nathan Brackett |editor2-first=Christian |editor2-last=Hoard |editor2-link=Christian Hoard |chapter=Public Image Ltd. |title=The New Rolling Stone Album Guide |title-link=The Rolling Stone Album Guide |publisher=[[Simon & Schuster]] |edition=4th |year=2004 |isbn=0-7432-0169-8 |pages=[https://archive.org/details/newrollingstonea00brac/page/662 662–63]}}</ref>
| rev8 = ''[[Spin Alternative Record Guide]]''
| rev8score = 10/10<ref>{{cite book |first=Simon |last=Reynolds |author-link=Simon Reynolds |editor1-first=Eric |editor1-last=Weisbard |editor1-link=Eric Weisbard |editor2-first=Craig |editor2-last=Marks |chapter=Public Image Ltd. |title=Spin Alternative Record Guide |title-link=Spin Alternative Record Guide |publisher=[[Vintage Books]] |year=1995 |isbn=0-679-75574-8 |pages=315–16}}</ref>
| rev9 = ''[[Uncut (magazine)|Uncut]]''
| rev9score = {{Rating|5|5}}<ref>{{cite magazine |first=Neil |last=Spencer |author-link=Neil Spencer |url=http://www.uncut.co.uk/music/public_image_ltd/reviews/13934 |title=PiL – Metal Box/Plastic Box |magazine=[[Uncut (magazine)|Uncut]] |date=8 February 2010 |access-date=30 October 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20101206064952/http://www.uncut.co.uk/music/public_image_ltd/reviews/13934 |archive-date=6 December 2010 |url-status=dead}}</ref>
| rev10 = ''[[The Village Voice]]''
| rev10score = A−<ref name=v>{{cite news |first=Robert |last=Christgau |author-link=Robert Christgau |url=http://www.robertchristgau.com/xg/cg/cgv4-80.php |title=Christgau's Consumer Guide |work=[[The Village Voice]] |date=28 April 1980 |access-date=29 May 2013}}</ref>
}}

''Metal Box'' is now considered a [[post-punk]] classic, and is highly acclaimed. Andy Kellman of [[AllMusic]] said that "PIL managed to avoid boundaries for the first four years of their existence, and ''Metal Box'' is undoubtedly the apex", noting that the album "hardly [sounds] like anything of the past, present, or future". He also compared it to the works of [[Captain Beefheart]] and [[Can (band)|Can]].<ref name=am/> ''[[Drowned in Sound]]'' reviewer Mark Ward wrote that the album "tears away from Lydon's sweaty punk roots and into the cold chambers of [[dub music|dub]] evoked by Can, the more outré electronics of [[David Bowie|Bowie]]'s Berlin years and the coruscating post-punk sound that guitarist Levene was in the process of pioneering" and that "if you don't yet have a copy, you really should".<ref>{{cite web |first=Mark |last=Ward |url=http://drownedinsound.com/releases/14969/reviews/4138615 |title=Album Review: Public Image Ltd – Metal Box (Remastered) |work=[[Drowned in Sound]] |date=8 December 2009 |access-date=29 May 2013 |archive-date=6 October 2012 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121006012201/http://drownedinsound.com/releases/14969/reviews/4138615 |url-status=dead }}</ref> ''[[The Village Voice|Village Voice]]'' critic [[Robert Christgau]] described the album's sound as "a full-bodied superaware white dub with disorienting European echoes."<ref name=v/>

The album was ranked at No. 2 among the top "Albums of the Year" for 1979 by ''[[NME]]'', with "Death Disco" ranked at No. 11 among the year's top tracks.<ref>{{Cite web |url=http://www.nme.com/bestalbumsandtracksoftheyear/1979-2-1045405 |title=Albums and Tracks of the Year |date=2016 |publisher=[[NME]] |access-date=9 November 2016 }}</ref> [[Robert Palmer (American writer)|Robert Palmer]] placed the album at third place in his best of 1980 list for the ''[[New York Times]]'', proclaiming the album to be the "definitive album of postpunk rock and the year's most compelling slice of metal machine music."{{sfn|Palmer|1980}}

In 2003, the album was included in ''[[Rolling Stone]]''{{'}}s [[Rolling Stone's 500 Greatest Albums of All Time|500 Greatest Albums of All Time]] list at No. 469, the magazine calling it "eerie, futuristic art punk with dub bass and slashing guitar".<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.rollingstone.com/music/lists/500-greatest-albums-of-all-time-19691231/metal-box-public-image-ltd-19691231 |archive-url=https://archive.today/20120908051443/http://www.rollingstone.com/music/lists/500-greatest-albums-of-all-time-19691231/metal-box-public-image-ltd-19691231 |url-status=dead |archive-date=8 September 2012 |title=Rolling Stone 500 Best Albums Entry |publisher=Rollingstone.com |access-date=29 May 2013}}</ref> ''Rolling Stone'' also included it in their 100 Best Albums of the Eighties, ranking it at No. 76.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.rollingstone.com/music/lists/100-best-albums-of-the-eighties-20110418/public-image-ltd-second-edition-20110329 |title=Public Image Ltd., 'Second Edition' - 100 Best Albums of the Eighties |author=<!--Staff writer(s); no by-line.--> |website=[[rollingstone.com]]|date=16 November 1989 |access-date=4 May 2016}}</ref> In 2002, ''[[Pitchfork (website)|Pitchfork]]'' ranked ''Metal Box'' at No. 19 on its "Top 100 Albums of the 1980s".<ref>{{cite web|url=http://pitchfork.com/features/staff-lists/5882-top-100-albums-of-the-1980s/9/ |title=Pitchfork Feature: Top 100 Albums of the 1980s |publisher=Pitchfork.com |date=20 November 2002 |access-date=29 May 2013}}</ref> It was also, along with their debut album, included in the book ''[[1001 Albums You Must Hear Before You Die]]'', with the reviewer Stevie Chick saying "the abrasive textures and powerful sounds they discovered...would influence all manner of experimental music for decades to come", while describing it as "cold dank, unforgiving, subterranean." The songs "Albatross", "Poptones", "Careering", "Chant" and "Radio 4" were selected as "key tracks".<ref>1001 albums you must hear before you die (2008 edition) Dimery, Robert page 442</ref> In 2020, ''[[Rolling Stone]]'' included it in their "80 Greatest albums of 1980" list, praising the band for pushing "beyond post-punk into a fractured space between demented abstraction and cranky freedom".<ref>{{cite web|url= https://www.rollingstone.com/music/music-lists/best-albums-of-1980-1075743/|title=The 80 Greatest Albums of 1980 What came out of all this was, arguably, the greatest year for great albums ever|publisher=[[Rolling Stone]]|date=11 November 2020 |access-date=12 November 2020}}</ref>

Bassist [[Jah Wobble]] recorded and released a new version of the album in 2021, titled ''Metal Box - Rebuilt in Dub''.