The album's title is taken from the William Shakespeare play Macbeth and the song “Something Wicked” features several lines from Macbeth, including “…when the battle's lost, and won.”
- 180g Pressing
Review:
“Colossal and cinematic, the fourth record from The Herbaliser is a timely
achievement in music, a genre-bending statement of creative poignancy. Something
Wicked This Way Comes is a quiet masterpiece, bringing together a tremendous
cast of hip-hop elite and employing more of their own samples and live
instrumentation than on their previous releases. The overwhelming credit
throughout is how intentional the placement of samples, lyrics, and dynamics
are, with the flow of the recording taking precedence over any one particular
performance or section. This makes the appearances of Iriscience on "Verbal
Anime,” Wildflower on “Good Girl Gone Bad,” Phi Life Cypher on
“Distinguished Jamaican English,” and MF Doom on “It Ain't Nuttin'” even
more coveted. The instrumental tracks and their trip-hop meadows, acid jazz
vamps, and spacy psychedelia make the ride rich and expansive, expounding on
some of the same spy-theme sounds introduced on Very Mercenary. The result is
once again a declaration of the The Herbaliser as innovators in the beat genre,
and another pioneering feather in Ninja Tune's astonishing hat."
- Nic Kincaid (All Music)