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Stars indicate the most critically-acclaimed albums.

Hot Fuss
by The Killers


8.3

based on 20 reviews
Read critic reviews
How did we calculate this?

based on 160 votes
Read user comments
Rate this album

Official Artist Site

'Hot Fuss' marks the debut for the Las Vegas-based garage rockers led by 22-year old vocalist/songwriter Brandon Flowers.

LABEL:	Island
RELEASE DATE:	15 June 2004
DISCS:	1 disc
GENRE(S):	Alternative, Rock

All critic scores are converted to a 100-point scale. If a critic does not indicate a score, we assign a score based on the general impression given by the text of the review. Learn more...

E! Online

The Killers sound like a delicious puree of Blur, Pulp and the Cure, loading Hot Fuss with stylish synth-pop effects and big blazing choruses.

Delusions of Adequacy

Hot Fuss is a multi-faceted, consistently interesting and enjoyable synth-rock album with strengths across the songwriting, singing, and playing fields.

Playlouder

What's apparent from playing this album is that almost everything they've got is a killer single.

Launch.com

Wait a minute... you mean this isn't a Duran Duran album?

Blender

They're not the first--or even the fifteenth--recent band to draw on that era [of the 1980s], but they're among the most assured. [#27, p.138]

Alternative Press

The band only falter on Fuss' slower, boring numbers, which consistently lack the zest and vibrancy of their uptempo counterparts. [Jul 2004, p.146]

Drowned In Sound

In less capable hands the results could be unsophisticated and cringeworthy - as it is, they team the neon luminosity of Duran Duran with the camp, boyish charm of Dexys Midnight Runners - and are as likeable as either of them.

Rolling Stone

The Rapture are artier, and Franz Ferdinand are more, well, Scottish, but this Las Vegas band has actual pop songs -- in spades.

New Musical Express

The Killers have made half of the album of the year. Lucky that now we've got Napster, you only need to buy half. [5 Jun 2004, p.55]

Stylus Magazine

This album’s appeal is so superficial that those who don’t cotton to guys trying to look pretty while the bombs drop should avoid this entirely.

Dot Music

Brandon Flowers has a horrible, honking seal bark of a voice.... Faced with this significant disadvantage, The Killers have cannily crafted a wall-of-sound songwriting style so bombastic it almost suits Flowers' sledgehammer vocals.

All Music Guide

It's hard to deny the sparkle and fade of Depeche Mode beats and the sensual allure of Duran Duran. After 25 years, those sounds still hold up; by 2004, however, it's an incredible task to pull this kind of thing off without selling yourself to the tastes of the masses.

The Onion (A.V. Club)

Most of Hot Fuss slides by without creating much of a stir, but it's got too many memorable moments to be written off.

Under The Radar

Shimmery, metallic and fairly unspectacular city boy rock. [#7]

Q Magazine

Things go awry in places... but somewhere in a parallel universe Molly Ringwald is running down a high school corridor to the sound of The Killers. [Jul 2004, p.116]

Pitchfork

So, it's plain that The Killers have made a record more concerned with artifice than artistry. If the intent is to place their album's principal teases on the next Now That's What I Call Music compilation, then bravo.

Entertainment Weekly

Isn't it a little too early for a Strokes tribute band? [18 Jun 2004, p.86]

PopMatters

What's most shocking about Hot Fuss, though, is how, after five sensational songs, the rest of the album completely implodes, as the other six tracks get weighed down by too much production, a lack of memorable hooks, and some inexplicable musical touches that may have sounded clever in the studio, but wind up sounding disastrous on the CD.

Trouser Press

Despite the frigid bore of the album's latter half, the initial grandiosity of the songwriting and vocals make it possible that the Killers can avoid the bleak fate shared by other new wave gimmick acts.

Uncut

Modish but strangely clinical. [Aug 2004, p.94]

The average user rating for this album is 8.3 (out of 10) based on 160 User Votes
Note: User votes are NOT included in the Metascore calculation.

Schmit gave it a6:
Not especially interesting music, some catchy singles, but that's all.

Music Lover gave it a10:
It's a classic. Every song's amazing. I have nothing else to say, but see for yourself.

Paul gave it an8:
The first five tracks are superb the rest of the album is OK

Ville B. gave it a10:
Best album of 2004.

Oligami gave it a6:
If nothing else, they're a singles band.

Paul B gave it a10:
It's all a matter of taste, but Hot Fuss and Sam's Town were the first and only full albums I downloaded on my new MP3 player, so that means I love'em!! Sure they may be a bit overdone, but everything is so well placed! They make me move and smile, and when I play them loud, my whole household's mood lifts. They're doing their job in that respect.

Alanna B gave it a10:
I don't know what that "Dot Music" is talking about... The Killers Rock!!!

Hot Fuss by The Killers

Hot Fuss
by The Killers