Ágætis byrjun
Andy Kellman of AllMusic said that with "( )", Sigur Rós made "only adjustments – no significant developments – in the group's sound" and that "The fact that the emotional extremes are few and far between makes the album difficult to wade through". Ott wrote that "( )" "doesn't shine with the same nascent glimmer as its predecessor. If the band weren't so headstrong, it wouldn't even be a consideration, but from the beginning they've claimed they would change music forever, and that this record in particular would be even better than ["Ágætis byrjun"]". In addition, he found the album's main Hopelandic phrase repetitive, and that "( )" lacked the innovation of its predecessor. Gavin Edwards of "Rolling Stone" called "( )" "impressive" but "remarkably similar" in sound; "it's just packaged more pretentiously." Ott said of the blank booklet included with "( )", "I fail to see how this tactic enriches the band's cinematic balladry", adding, "evidence that they just thought it would be cool to package the record this way is abundant". Mueller called the title of "( )" "forehead-slappingly pretentious", and considered the album's nameless tracks "a jab at Yorke-worshippers who couldn’t pronounce the Icelandic titles of Sigur Ros’s previous work anyway." In his review for PopMatters, music critic Matt Cibula wrote, "I don't think there "are" any real meanings to these songs, other than the ones we bring to them, each on our own", adding: