Mechanical Bull

Kings of Leon - Mechanical Bull
Critic Score
Based on 30 reviews
2013 Ratings: #862 / 1115
User Score
Based on 254 ratings
2013 Rank: #469
Liked by 18 people
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CRITIC REVIEWS

80
SPIN

While Mechanical Bull doesn't offer much in the way of surprises, it's by far their most seasoned album yet — and also their most conventional, professional, and focused.

70
Consequence of Sound

Mechanical Bull is the sound of a band reviving its former selves for the benefit of each other and for their longtime fans, and it’s their best album since Aha Shake Heartbreak.

70
PopMatters

As craftsmen and musicians, however, Mechanical Bull finds the band firing on all cylinders, and, again working with producer Angelo Petraglia, the album sounds fuller and brighter than any of its predecessors. 

70
AllMusic

While still retaining Kings of Leon's penchant toward bombastic, hooky choruses and driving guitars, Mechanical Bull feels breezier and less labored than Come Around Sundown.

67
A.V. Club

Mechanical Bull falls right in that sweet spot, but very little of what made the band exciting on its early albums remains.

60
NME

It'll do for a fleeting one-night stand, but 'Mechanical Bull' isn't the rekindling of a romance that we'd hoped for.

60
The Fly

The return to form many craved has proved impossible, but this is the sound of youths grown into their manhood. No longer a freaky cult, Kings Of Leon is a powerhouse, a religious institution that welcomes anyone. 

50
Drowned in Sound

Like all marriages, it can get rocky at times and even a little bit dull, but there’s enough here to suggest that they’re on the way back up after hitting rock bottom.

50
DIY

Uninspiring, unexciting, largely forgettable – this is nothing more than Kings of Leon by numbers.

43
Paste

Caleb swishes lyrics in his mouth like funky-flavored Listerine, perhaps an attempt to mask the blandness. They lack any conviction, originality and seemingly, effort.

43
Pretty Much Amazing

Mechanical Bull is the sound of Kings of Leon de-fanged, de-crowned, and de-throned, further evidence of their inexorable slide towards artistic irrelevance. 

40
musicOMH

It feels mechanical, a band on auto-pilot, going through the motions of songwriting and recording but with their hearts elsewhere.

Nightwing734
80

So 1 day before the new Kings Of Leon album came out in March, I decided to binge their discography. I wasn't all too familiar with the band outside of some of their hit singles and their newer singles like The Bandit, which I really liked.

I was pleasantly surprised when I went through their discog, because outside of their first 2 albums, I found their discography to be pretty enjoyable. There was one album that really stood out to me and I kept coming back to: Mechanical Bull.

Hella ... read more

JacksonLerner
97

what makes this album sound insanely good is the delivery (also the mixing is insane). this, truly, is a rock album (the epitome being "temple", or track two: "rock city")

‘wait for me’ is the most accessible part on kings of leon’s least accessible album.

'mechanical bull' can sound like a southern grunge dream pop mix.

Doofy
46

'Mechanical Bull' is an attempt at returning to the band's more rocking roots and is preferable to another 'Come Around the Sun' even if it doesn't quite capture the energy of the first two albums.

'Supersoaker' has some great vocal melodies and the guitar licks to back them up; 'Don't Matter' has some QotSA'ish groove to it; and among the barren wasteland of Side B you have 'Coming Back Again' which would have made for a better than average latter career Pearl Jam rocker.

Nothing ... read more

65

there are some bangers, but they are drowned out by the mediocrity in the rest of the project

EvanSmith
60

Very Repetitive Sound As Well As Lacking A Lot Of Lyrical Value

hypermusic73
78

Kings of Leon is one of those bands that have a lot of songs I enjoy, but they're not much of an 'album band' and I can understand why people who dislike them (outside the 'first 3 good everything after bad' crowd which I've never understood). That being said, this is a very consistent and cohesive album and probably their best in my opinion; a big improvement over Come Around Sundown which is mediocre.

Supersoaker is my favourite KOL songs; it may be one of their poppiest but it's so catchy ... read more

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Track List

1Supersoaker
3:51
83
2Rock City
2:57
69
3Don't Matter
2:51
79
4Beautiful War
5:10
73
5Temple
4:11
79
6Wait for Me
3:31
85
7Family Tree
3:51
71
8Comeback Story
4:00
76
9Tonight
4:34
78
10Coming Back Again
3:29
81
11On the Chin
4:17
72
Total Length: 42 minutes

Year End Lists

#24/Clash
#70/Amazon
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Added on: June 7, 2013