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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.

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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.

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Playlouder

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

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Launch.com

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

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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.

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Rolling Stone

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

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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Uncut

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

What Our Users Said

The average user rating for this album is 8.3 (out of 10) based on 172 User Votes

Note: User votes are NOT included in the Metascore calculation.

Donal C gave it a7:
First 5 songs are amazing. 6 and 7 are good. the rest are poor!

Mateo G. gave it a9:
One of my favorite albums of all time! Yeah!

Suleiman M. gave it a7:
An impressive first offering, and an enjoyable one at that. Hot Fuss is a great album, and if you're just getting into The Killers, it's a great place to start. Songs such as Mr. Brightside should easily impress.

Scott W gave it an8:
The Killers first album is truly A killer when it comes to pop rock. Flower's voice is going to go far. On this album it dose and the band along with him. The first 5 and last song rock the album. As for the rest not so much so as to reach a 10 rating just on the songs alone. Still though its a classic and its only the first.

Kylie gave it a10:
This ablum is brilliant. Every song is great. The Killers are a fantastic band.

Danwood gave it an8:
Fantastic debut and contains possibly the killers best song With All The Things That I've done. This album contains the biggest singles but is really just a hint of the great things to come.

J D gave it a9:
It's great! Who could hate this I don't get it? Haters go listen to the CBBC Soundtrack, it might suit you more!

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Hot Fuss

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