Cage the Elephant - Melophobia
Critic Score
Based on 16 reviews
2013 Ratings: #623 / 1115
User Score
2013 Rank: #109
Liked by 254 people
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CRITIC REVIEWS

80
musicOMH

Melophobia finally sees Cage The Elephant realise their full potential.

80
AllMusic

Melophobia is a thoroughly modern rock record, where all the past is alive in the present, so if you've ever had affection for any alt-rock sound from the '80s through the 2000s, it's hard not to find something to enjoy here.

80
Paste
Propulsive choruses, a musical cacophony that whirls and a melodic sense that secedes nothing to the rhythms, the scrappy quintet’s third album is a focused, frenzied affair.
80
Uncut
While the familiar swagger is present and correct both in the Bowie-influenced "Spiderhead" and the crackling "It's Just Forever," these moments are leavened by quieter, more reflective tracks such as "Hypocrite."
80
The Needle Drop
Alternative rock outfit Cage the Elephant completely surprises me with a record of songs that have uniformly interesting production, energetic performances, memorable hooks, sharp melodies, and a pretty diverse array of instrumentation.
80
Q Magazine
Their [stardom] has been a slow rise. The ascent continues apace.
75
Entertainment Weekly
The rowdy Kentucky fivesome trade expertly curated vintage grunge for Brit-garage grime on their third album.
70
Consequence of Sound
Instead of looking through their record collection for inspiration, the band looked to their memory. It’s a nostalgic album, but one that trades direct referentiality for broader echoes.
70
Rolling Stone

As with the band's two previous LPs, Melophobia rides crackling melodies and a visceral tumult that's the perfect backing for Matt Shultz's paranoid lyrics.

70
Alternative Press
The resulting album is, at its best, ambitious and teeming with ideas and, at worst, one heck of a mish-mash of sounds.
70
Clash

These 10 songs display a band very much aware of its own identity, yet restlessly attempting to dismantle it. The result is a compelling exercise in growth.

65
Spectrum Culture
What results is a down and dirty, ramshackle mess of an album, in the most delicious way possible.
60
Under the Radar

Melophobia is another collection of dirty, bluesy rock ‘n’ roll. As single “Come a Little Closer” showed, Cage The Elephant have moved even further into the camp of bands like The Black Keys and The Kills (Alison Mosshart guests on one track), making broody, earnest rock music.

50
PopMatters
On the one hand, it feels fresh and bold, with a clear vision, fun timbres, somewhat resourceful production, and a care-free attitude. At the same time, though, the songwriting is very amateurish, and there’s too much of a muddled, DIY coating around the entire affair.
30
Drowned in Sound
It’s a confused effort, with the songwriting faults, misguided lyrics, and the foolish sidelining of Cage the Elephant's greatest weapon (Schultz’s voice) torpedoing the vast majority of tracks.
nah_
70

"If you're not slightly embarrassed to sing the lyrics, you're probably not writing a good song" - Matt Shultz

I've been meaning to get into Cage The Elephant for a while as their hits helped me through covid and got me through some shit, but I never fully checked out one of their albums, but I have to say even if this can be perceived as basic 2010s indie rock, I think Melophobia is very unique for what it tried to do and was probably the boldest move for Cage The Elephant. ... read more

Host
80

"Guys I'm so indie I promise, I swear"

Tristan
NR

Cage The Elephant is a very important band to me. Although this is only my second time reviewing one of their records, I've heard all of them many times. The reason CTE is so important to me is because they are among the 3 main bands I first started listening to when I began to get into music. These 3 bands were: Cage The Elephant, MGMT, and Radiohead. But Cage The Elephant was the first.
Without CTE, I highly I doubt I would have ever truly explored music and gotten into it nearly as much as I ... read more

fordneedstorest
81

i swear it’s not just cuz my boyfriend likes this

fUSTERcLUCK
80

Energetic, fun, noisy. Pretty much what you'd expect from CTE

BlueRazzzz
75

Why are the elephants caged?
I don't want to cage the elephant.

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Track List

1Spiderhead
3:42
91
2Come a Little Closer
3:49
93
3Telescope
3:48
90
4It's Just Forever
3:30
75
5Take It or Leave It
3:27
84
6Halo
2:57
87
7Black Widow
3:07
78
8Hypocrite
4:08
84
9Teeth
5:27
80
10Cigarette Daydreams
3:28
95
Total Length: 37 minutes

Year End Lists

#27/The Needle Drop
#56/Amazon
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Added on: October 1, 2013