XTRMNTR is the sixth studio album by Scottish rock band Primal Scream. It was first released on 31 January2000 in the United Kingdom by Creation Records and on 2 May 2000 in the United States by Astralwerks. It peaked at number 3 on the UK Albums Chart. 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 harsh, industrial sounds forming the basis for many of its songs. Although Gary Mounfield joined the band in 1997 and recorded a selection of tracks on their previous album Vanishing Point, 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. 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
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". NME magazine rated XTRMNTR #2 in its "Top 50 Albums Of The Year 2000", 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. 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 and Pitchfork placed it at #142 in its Top 200 Albums of the 2000s list. Metacritic placed it at #20 of the 40 best reviewed albums released 2000-9. In 2001, Q magazine named it as one of the "50 Heaviest Albums Of All Time". Praising the production, Stylus Magazine included the album on their 2006 list of the "Top Ten Best Sounding Records, 1997–Present", and later ranked the album at number 10 on their "Stylus Decade" list of the "Top 100 Albums of the 2000s". In October 2011, NME placed "Swastika Eyes" at #45 and "Accelerator" at #114 on its list "150 Best Tracks of the Past 15 Years". 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". Referring to the 2013 update, the album ranks at number 160 in NME's The 500 Greatest Albums of All Time. In 2019, the album was ranked 65th on The Guardian's 100 Best Albums of the 21st Century list.
