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With Adele's 21 about to be named the number one album in the country this week, perhaps now is the time for ethereal European songstresses to break out. This week sees the release of Wounded Rhymes, the second album by Swedish songbird Lykke Li. Her 2008 debut album Youth Novels combined icy Scandanavian instrumentation with Li's haunting voice and sharp melodies, and Wounded Rhymes doesn't mess with the script (though it does find Li exploring much darker lyrical themes).

But how are the critics reacting to Lykke Li's new album? Music writers around the world seem to be embracing the new release. Entertainment Weekly's Amanda Petrusich said Li's intriguing voice is "like a Nordic hybrid of Lou Reed and Darlene Love" and declared Wounded Rhymes "hungry, dark, dirty" before rewarding it with a solid "A" rating.

NME warns that Li should not be underestimated as some sort of ethereal songbird, as Wounded Rhymes packs a punch. "Wounded Rhymes is a calculated effort to set the record straight — a subversive statement of fiery female intent from the last voice you might have expected," critic Jazz Monroe wrote. "For all her feisty panache, Lykke is something of a lioness trapped in the body of a neutered kitten."

Fellow U.K. outlet The Observer concurred with the NME review, backing up the idea of Li as a wolf in an adorable bunny's clothing. "Her second album is a formidable collection of all-woman 21st-century torch songs that reverberate with vengeance and desolation," critic Hermione Hoby wrote. "The arrangements are still stark and driven by syncopated handclaps and off-kilter drums, but now, voice creaking with heartache, she sounds like she's casting dark spells rather than serenading daydreams."

Spin, who put Lykke Li on the cover of their current issue, is also in love with the new, darker version of the artist. "Li's new album is equal parts seething ice princess and lonely snowwoman, vacillating almost track by track between fury and despondence over a scotched relationship," critic Sean Fennessey wrote. "The dual objectives — weep for me, fear me — collide throughout, creating a dicey, but gripping album."

In a four star review, Jody Rosen of Rolling Stone noted that Lykke Li is different than the other pop-obsessed stars that come out of Sweden. "Her second album is a weird-pop gem — torchy love songs that nod to Sixties hits but are stretched into all kinds of shapes," Rosen wrote. "Li dips into garage rock and wintry folk, but her guiding spirit seems to be Phil Spector, and she laces the music with booming percussion and girl-group-style romantic melodrama."

The last word belongs to August Brown from the Los Angeles Times. In a three-and-a-half star review, Brown wrote, "Rarely has a come-on come packed with so much menace. But Li's beguiling second album Wounded Rhymes is full of charged contradictions. She's a mediocre singer with a very interesting voice, a fan of classic handmade pop and the ways laptops can serrate it, and a writer obsessed with sex and with sexing up obsession." The pull between those opposing poles seems to be the big draw of Wounded Rhymes, and Lykke Li has just the right presentation to pull it off.

What do you think of Lykke Li's new album? Let us know in the comments!

Tags Lykke Li, reviews