Welcome Reality is the debut album by British dubstep group Nero. A concept album,[1] it was released first in Ireland on 12 August 2011[2] and the rest of the world on 15 August 2011 except Australia and New Zealand where it was released on 19 August 2011[3] on Chase & Status's MTA Records.[4] The album has sold 120,000 copies in the United States as of July 2015.[5]
Welcome Reality has received generally positive reviews. Spin gave the album a score of 7/10, and wrote, "Alana Watson gives Nero's robotic skronk a rare injection of humanity, and the U.K. producers are smart enough to build most of their debut full-length around her husky voice, skipping the sampled spasticity of Skrillex in favor of Daft Punk's melodic big beat, '80s-inspired electro, and stadium-sized mash-ups of squealing guitar and windy synths."[11] Jeff Weiss, for the Los Angeles Times, found the album to be "As effective as it is predictable", stating "Welcome Reality will inevitably soundtrack thousands of summer and fall blowouts".[12] The album was not well received by Clash, who stated that "Welcome Reality is so in your face and predictable it feels like the musical equivalent of a Michael Bay movie: loud, crass, periodically fun, but ultimately forgettable".[7]
