Lana's strongest record. Although Born to Die and Lust For Life are solid albums, her distinct 'noir-Americana' persona that others have mentioned gets muddled by the heavyhanded poppy electronic rhythm sections on those two. This one (despite the heavy use of reverb) sounds far more organic than the others.

Here, I think we get the pure melancholic extract of her sound. It's an album with an old soul, but also veers on the edge of being straight-up dream pop. While the tracklisting loses a bit of steam in the second half, it pulls itself together at the end with a strong finish. The end result is a strong album that almost sounds timeless.

Perhaps it is simply my addiction to this sound, but I love this record. Something about the way her voice effortlessly shifts timbres from line-to-line and shimmers alongside those guitars...Like the chorus to 'Shades of Cool'...Damn. Perhaps it is not the most -adventurous-, but man do I find this album irresistible.

Highlights: Shades of Cool, Brooklyn Baby, Black Beauty, Cruel World

Least Favorite: Money Power Glory

I tend to like all things Lana Del Rey, which may not seem entirely rational on my part, given that her brooding, duck-face persona isn't exactly congruent with most of my other musical tastes. In fact, I'd go so far as to predict that Ultraviolence gradually loses status on my 2014 chart as I discover, and re-discover, other albums that feel like they have more staying power. But for now it still holds a prominent spot, as I do think this album represents an interest in pop music that I hadn't experienced since the late 1980s, when the alternative rock, college rock, alternative country, and grunge scenes took over my musical imagination and refused to let go for decades.

This was quite different from "Born to Die" but it was still very easy to notice her style. I remember how I thought that the songs of this album are long but the longest track "Cruel world" is not even 7 minutes - and it is my favorite song of this album. I found this album amazing a couple of years after its release year. She is amazing artists - her lyrics are very smart.

A mildly surprising sophmore effort from Lana that brought a more slow-burning heat to her romanticized, hoary melancholia than the one-trick pony of "Born to Die", which always felt quickly cobbled together to cash in on the out-of-nowhere supernova that was "Video Games".

The overall mood and connecting sound are quite engaging on "Ultraviolence" and continue her kitschy, classic-noir-ish post-war Americana fetish with some added beat-you-over-the-head modern scene-skewering ("Brooklyn Baby" the good, "Fuck My Way to the Top" the ugly), but the devil's ultimately in the details here: the songs themselves are all careful, labored build-up with no release, ultimately making the album feel a bit limp despite all it's colorful, husky atmosphere. "Ultraviolence" ultimately loses it's musical energy and grip on it's artistic direction far too soon.

While a tantalizing dissapointment overall, she still proved she wasn't doomed to be a one-moment-in-time wonder with "Video Games" but still had a long way to go as a more meaningful, substantive songwriter and performer.

Her best album yet. The dark themes are beautiful and the album is a sad, quiet listen that can bring anyone to tears. "Pretty When You Cry", "Sad Girl", and "Guns and Roses" are the highlights.

The first 5 songs of this album are absolutely mesmerizing! The backing instruments are more pronounced and the entire structure for these songs are a vast improvement from her Born To Die debut. Unfortunately, the back half of this album is very bland in comparison. Sad Girl is a good song if not a bit repetitive, but as you get to Pretty When You Cry, it all starts to sound the same. That is, until you get to The Other Woman but even then the song is in no way as good as any of the first 5 songs. West Coast and Shades of Cool are probably the highlights while the back half left me a bit disappointed.

One of the awesome things about Lana is that her 3 professional albums are all so different. BTD is hip-hop influenced pop while Honeymoon goes full melancholy with trap beats, and this one is creatively driven by guitars and other rock instruments. Definitely could listen to Brooklyn Baby, Money Power Glory, FMWUTTT on repeat, but as a whole this is incredibly cohesive just like anything else she's done since 2012. I really hope one day she gets the recognition she deserves.

This might be a fad for me, but I just get mesmerized by her voice and music.

better than born to die as it feels more honest.

Instant classic and underrated, like... get off Born to Die and listen and pay real attention, this is pure genius.

Cruel World (obvs) and Brooklyn Baby are favs, the latter could've been a great single instead of being released just for promotion, and, for me, it's the best Lana song and probably the best song from 2014, hits hard every fu**in time.