Mechanical Bull
Details
LP / Format
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CRITIC REVIEWS
80
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.
10y
70
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.
10y
70
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.
10y
70
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.
10y
67
Mechanical Bull falls right in that sweet spot, but very little of what made the band exciting on its early albums remains.
10y
60
It'll do for a fleeting one-night stand, but 'Mechanical Bull' isn't the rekindling of a romance that we'd hoped for.
10y
60
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.
10y
50
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.
10y
50
Uninspiring, unexciting, largely forgettable – this is nothing more than Kings of Leon by numbers.
10y
43
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.
10y
43
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.
10y
40
It feels mechanical, a band on auto-pilot, going through the motions of songwriting and recording but with their hearts elsewhere.
10y
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
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.
'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
Everything on here is super smooth (production, riffs, mixing etc) other than the lyrics being questionable most of the time, bland vocals and general ideas and variation and so it ends up dragging for an overall boring project. Clear these guys have potential for a rlly good project tho shame it just didnt pan out this time. Disappointing overall.
Album art is cool tho 7.5/10
Great album. Only wish that the bonus songs on the extended version made the actual album.
Best Track - Beautiful War
Worst Track - Rock City
Contributions By
wallver, patton, royalflush, thisisabtlgrnd, philthy, Alejandro González, JediMark, Novell_sx, erik, MarkyC, domvicBecome a Donor
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Track List
| 1 | Supersoaker 3:51 | 58 |
| 2 | Rock City 2:57 | 49 |
| 3 | Don't Matter 2:51 | 54 |
| 4 | Beautiful War 5:10 | 52 |
| 5 | Temple 4:11 | 55 |
| 6 | Wait for Me 3:31 | 69 |
| 7 | Family Tree 3:51 | 46 |
| 8 | Comeback Story 4:00 | 50 |
| 9 | Tonight 4:34 | 53 |
| 10 | Coming Back Again 3:29 | 60 |
| 11 | On the Chin 4:17 | 52 |
Total Length: 42 minutes
Added on: June 7, 2013