Mechanical Bull - Kings of Leon
Mechanical Bull Image
Metascore
72

Generally favorable reviews - based on 29 Critics What's this?

User Score
7.5

Generally favorable reviews- based on 42 Ratings

Your Score
0 out of 10
Rate this:
  • 10
  • 9
  • 8
  • 7
  • 6
  • 5
  • 4
  • 3
  • 2
  • 1
  • 0
  • 0
  • Summary: After a three year hiatus, the rock band formed by four brothers return with its sixth full-length studio release produced by Angelo Petraglia.

Critic Reviews

Score distribution:
  1. Positive: 17 out of 29
  2. Mixed: 12 out of 29
  3. Negative: 0 out of 29
  1. Uncut
    Sep 18, 2013
    90
    Kings of Leon zeroed in on their gifts for visceral rock grooves and soaring hooks--lifting standout tracks on their sixth album to a Springsteen-like level of gritty grandeur. [Oct 2013, p.70]
    All this publication's reviews
  2. Entertainment Weekly
    Sep 18, 2013
    83
    Mechanical Bull finds the Tennessee rockers recapturing the white-lightning-in-a-bottle spark that made their early stuff so fun.
  3. Austin Chronicle
    Oct 4, 2013
    78
    Mechanical Bull kicks up a tightly controlled disc that still leaves enough roots unpolished.
  4. American Songwriter
    Sep 18, 2013
    70
    By design, Mechanical Bull was made for fun, and in that spirit, they succeeded.
  5. New Musical Express (NME)
    Sep 23, 2013
    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.
  6. Mojo
    Sep 19, 2013
    60
    If the album's (mostly) feral guitars and off-mike whoops conjure a band keen to re-harness the pluck of 2003's Youth & young Manhood, in places, the enormodome-courting trappings of recent years linger on. [Oct 2013, p.94]
    All this publication's reviews
  7. musicOMH.com
    Sep 18, 2013
    40
    It feels mechanical, a band on auto-pilot, going through the motions of songwriting and recording but with their hearts elsewhere.

See all 29 Critic Reviews

User Reviews

Write a Review
Score distribution:
  1. Positive: 13 out of 18
  2. Mixed: 3 out of 18
  3. Negative: 2 out of 18
  1. wade22fan
    Sep 26, 2013
    10
    Kings of Leon has done it again. Mechanical Bull is easily one of their finest albums. Standout tracks are Wait For Me, Temple, Family Tree, Comeback Story, Coming Back Again and Work On Me. There is an energy here that wasn't present in the somewhat mellow "Come Around Sundown". The boys have never sounded better or looked better live as they do in 2013. They don't have a single bad album. This is a special band, one we will look back at as one of the, if not the best rock groups of our generation.… Expand
  2. Herecomesyourma
    Sep 26, 2013
    10
    This is kings of leon beat effort since because of the times, a great return to form! Also metacritic why haven't you put the guardians review up the album up? Or the daily express or the times review? All three scored the album 80 out of 100. You always use the guardians review so why not now!?… Expand
  3. unknown2000
    Sep 24, 2013
    10
    I think it's an amazing album and it deserve better critics than that..........................................................................!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!… Expand
  4. Jacopomsn
    Sep 25, 2013
    8
    Great album, much better than Come Around Sundown. Yes they are a different kind of Kings Of Leon from the one that made Aha Shake Heartbreak best album for me) but the album has the typical south-rock-alternative sound that make Kings unique. Best track Coming Back Again.… Expand
  5. mathmike
    Oct 5, 2013
    7
    I thought this album was good, but that's all it was. It was not great. The songs themselves were good but I didn't find they were very memorable, especially considering many of their other very memorable songs. After listening to the whole album, I thought it was decent but I couldn't recall what any of the songs even sounded like except for Super Soaker.… Expand
  6. MatthewColombia
    Oct 1, 2013
    7
    Nice album. After two really really bad albums, fulfilled with cheesy power-ballads made for teenage little girls, they finally released something a lil bit more exciting and more guitar-driven than their previous two awful albums. Temple is my favourite song, it reminds me of California Waiting on Youth & Young Manhood. Their first single is also catchy, and has that sound from Aha Shake. Coming Back Again is another highlight of the album, and don't forget Don't Matter, my second favourite, which has that raw and rocker sound like that single from their 3rd album (Charmer) although a little bit softer than that. I recommend the 2 bonus tracks, they're nice. I didn't like any ballads on the album, that's why I'm givin' it a 7 (I really liked 7 tracks on the album). Anyway, their first two albums are still my favourite and the best from their catalogue.… Expand
  7. SpotlightShow
    Sep 26, 2013
    0
    If you love this album, you have ridiculously low expectations of what music should be. You likely compare Kings of Leon to Lady Gaga or Rhianna and think that this latest insipid offering from the Nashville quartet is somehow more credible because they wear chequered shirts and play guitars. The album is an insult to my intelligence from beginning to end, and if that wasn't enough they've even called it Mechanical Bull (translation; going through the motions garbage). "Don't Matter" could easily be a b-side that Queens of The Stone Age record when they reach their 60s."Family Tree" is a poor rehash of The Zutons "You Will You Won't", missing the sense of communion it is so blindly attempting to embrace. "Temple" contains the album's only fleeting moment of true enjoyment in an otherwise heavy, tired and extremely pointless album by a band who just don't care any more.… Expand

See all 18 User Reviews

Current Music Releases

Full List »
96 Sound System [Box Set]
96 The Warner Bros. Years [Box Set]
92 Sunbather
91 Higher! [Box Set]
91 Master
89 Is Survived By
89 Loud City Song
89 Silver Bell
88 In Utero [20th Anniversary Edition]
88 Your Turn
88 The RCA Albums Collection
87 Southeastern
87 All Hail West Texas [Reissued]
87 Random Access Memories
87 The Blackest Beautiful
87 Annie Up
87 American Ride
87 Innocence is Kinky
87 The Island Years [Box Set]
86 Made in California [Box Set]
All Current Music »