Mylo Xyloto - Coldplay
Metascore
65 out of 100

Generally favorable reviews - based on 39 Critics

Critic score distribution:
  1. Positive: 17 out of 39
  2. Mixed: 20 out of 39
  3. Negative: 2 out of 39
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  1. All Music Guide
    Oct 24, 2011
    70
    They've embraced their schoolboy selves and are simply singing songs of love and good cheer, albeit on a grand scale that somehow seems smaller due to the group's insuppressible niceness.
  2. PopMatters
    Oct 24, 2011
    40
    Unfortunately, this is the kind of sequel where nothing new is introduced, no great revelations are to be had, and the things that made the previous installment so great are nowhere to be found.
  3. Pitchfork
    Oct 26, 2011
    70
    While so many bands at their status revert to bloated contentment or some vague idea of rockist salvation, Mylo Xyloto finds Coldplay successfully continuing to explore the tension of wanting to be one of the best bands in the world and having to settle for being one of the biggest.
  4. Q Magazine
    Nov 3, 2011
    100
    Music this uplifting, this inspirational, belongs among the stars. [Dec 2011, p.120]
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  5. Uncut
    Oct 18, 2011
    60
    There's no shortage of decent tunes. [Nov 2011, p.83]
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  6. Mojo
    Nov 3, 2011
    80
    This is Coldplay getting in, delivering the tune, getting out, influenced by the discipline of cutting-edge R&B but still capable of testing arena acoustics with some supermassive bluster, glitterball lustre and classic Buckland glide'n'twiddle. [Dec 2011, p.46]
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  7. Rolling Stone
    Oct 17, 2011
    70
    Coldplay rage in their own lovably goofy way.
  8. The A.V. Club
    Oct 25, 2011
    75
    It actually sounds like a natural extension of Coldplay's big, radio-friendly sound. It's also Coldplay's most consistently listenable album since 2002's A Rush Of Blood To The Head, though it resembles that album little.
  9. Spin
    Oct 17, 2011
    70
    Where Viva La Vida showcased Coldplay's sense of adventure, this one feels more eager to please; the sonic detail accrues with such speed that it's like Martin and his mates fear you'll bail if they don't grab you straightaway.
  10. New Musical Express (NME)
    Oct 24, 2011
    50
    It just feels like, once again, Coldplay have done the selfless thing and gone out to protect EMI's share price, and at the end of it remain peering off the edge of a cliff edge, wishing they had the courage to jump.
  11. Under The Radar
    Nov 28, 2011
    70
    Mylo Xyloto feels like it was created by an actual rock band, with each player stepping up his game.
  12. Entertainment Weekly
    Oct 21, 2011
    58
    What's missing is the innovation that made Viva La Vida so dynamic.
  13. Drowned In Sound
    Oct 24, 2011
    50
    It's popcorn music, and there's absolutely nothing wrong with that. But trying to dress it up in big concepts only belies the belief that it's somehow lacking, which leads to its undoing.
  14. musicOMH.com
    Oct 20, 2011
    60
    Rihanna's appearance aside, Mylo Xyloto is everything you'd expect from a Coldplay album.
  15. The Guardian
    Oct 20, 2011
    60
    A lot of it just sounds like standard-issue Coldplay, replete with echoing guitars, woah-oh choruses and vocals that signify high drama by slipping into falsetto.
  16. Prefix Magazine
    Nov 7, 2011
    60
    Producer Brian Eno has guided them towards more expansive instrumentation and bombastic atmosphere, but the center of the music often lacks real heaviness.
  17. Slant Magazine
    Oct 24, 2011
    60
    While the melodies on Mylo Xyloto are some of the strongest and most memorable in the band's catalogue, it's the shortcomings in their lyrics that keep Coldplay from packing the kind of emotional wallop their sound really demands.
  18. NOW Magazine
    Oct 27, 2011
    60
    It's wrapped in a confused concept--future lovers (the album title's characters) under siege by some kind of dystopian oppression--but several tunes will surely ignite stadium masses.
  19. Paste Magazine
    Oct 25, 2011
    60
    It's a moment of stirring calm amid a sea of blaring showiness, and this well-intended mixed bag, despite its lovely surfaces, could have used more of that variety.
  20. BBC Music
    Oct 17, 2011
    80
    Mylo Xyloto may have an oblique title but it's a triumph because the music is anything but.
  21. cokemachineglow
    Nov 1, 2011
    67
    To Coldplay's credit, amidst the over-production they still manage to reach their quota of flag-waving festival rock songs, some of which could be considered career highlights.
  22. Filter
    Nov 8, 2011
    70
    With all the bells and whistles in prominent display, Coldplay may have made their most enjoyable album. I only hope the sourpusses enjoy it.
  23. Consequence of Sound
    Oct 25, 2011
    50
    Mylo Xyloto feels like the group's mid-life crisis.
  24. No Ripcord
    Oct 21, 2011
    60
    Mylo Xyloto does have its unpredictable moments, some of which work more effectively than others.
  25. Boston Globe
    Oct 25, 2011
    60
    For an album unabashed in its intimacy, the bigger moments are all that more rattling. Not everything turns a new corner.
  26. Los Angeles Times
    Oct 24, 2011
    37
    Every touch of lyrical bitterness is followed by enough sugar to mask the taste, which might be good in the short term but isn't a recipe for long-term health.
  27. Sputnikmusic
    Nov 14, 2011
    100
    Mylo Xyloto proves that Coldplay are quite simply the best pop band in the world, bar none.
  28. Sputnikmusic
    Oct 25, 2011
    80
    Martin's newest record is a successfully didactic and direct body of work.
  29. Beats Per Minute (formerly One Thirty BPM)
    Oct 24, 2011
    50
    Ultimately, Mylo Xyloto feels like a mixed bag of ideas that never really comes together.
  30. Clash Music
    Oct 24, 2011
    80
    Coldplay's electronic excursions may be more cerebral and less embroiled than those of Thom Yorke's continued influence on Radiohead, but their progress is to be applauded, for this is an excellent album with depths unexplainable within this word count.
  31. Blurt Magazine
    Nov 4, 2011
    50
    The album is not terrible, just not terribly original either.
  32. The Independent on Sunday (UK)
    Oct 24, 2011
    40
    It takes no chances. This is a record that browbeats and bullies you into submission with its sheer massiveness, courtesy of producer Brian Eno.
  33. The Independent (UK)
    Oct 21, 2011
    40
    The results are smoothly pallid even by their standards, the usual modes of exultant melancholy and epic sympathy exacerbated by the earnest thrumming of acoustic guitars that punctuates the familiar piano vamps.
  34. American Songwriter
    Oct 26, 2011
    70
    Mylo Xyloto is fully realized and instantly revealed on first listen.
  35. Absolute Punk (Staff reviews)
    Oct 28, 2011
    85
    Though it is probably not Coldplay's best, it is indeed a memorable listen and another chapter for a band whose place in rock music is firmly cemented.
  36. The Quietus
    Oct 25, 2011
    30
    For everything else there's Coldplay: reliable, built to move, and able to run on hot air alone.
  37. The Observer (UK)
    Oct 24, 2011
    60
    It's a bit uplifting, but ultimately insipid.
  38. The Telegraph (UK)
    Oct 20, 2011
    80
    Great pop music with its big heart in the right place.
  39. Chicago Tribune
    Oct 24, 2011
    50
    Coldplay has a formula, and formula prevails on Mylo Xyloto despite Eno's presence.

User Reviews

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User Score
7.0 out of 10

Generally favorable reviews- based on 221 Ratings

User score distribution:
  1. Positive: 73 out of 95
  2. Mixed: 12 out of 95
  3. Negative: 10 out of 95
  1. mohamedfayyad
    10
    i know that many people are disappointed but this is why coldplay is agreat band as the fans don't accept any other thing but perfection. though the album is great maybe the songwriting isn't so good but the music is very amazing and unique… Full Review »
  2. Robnads
    3
    Mylo Xyloto is a huge disappointment. Yes, it is terrific production, but other than the single, "Paradise", Chris Martin's songwriting is surprisingly weak and the album lack the cohesion of "Viva La Vida". It's a foray into cheesy contemporary pop and electronica. Growing musically is great, to latching on to a genre that creates worse music than they do is a huge mistake. As a Coldplay fan, I think I'll pretend this album never happened and hope Martin goes back to putting songwriting first on the next one. Here, it feels like he's scraping the bottom of the barrel.… Full Review »
  3. Siriusfisherman
    7
    Mylo Xyloto is the fifth full-length album by Coldplay, following their 2008 release Viva la Vida. In many ways the two albums are similar, most notably they used the same producer, the legendary Brian Eno. They also both are noticeably different from anything they released before, both are much more upbeat and confident, and they take the use of many new instruments. The main differences come in the sound, Viva la Vida was darker and classical sounding while Mylo Xyloto has a much more poppy and electronic sound. But now lets really just get into Mylo Xyloto, the album that is under question. Martin has said that the album was influenced by old american graffiti. It is very apparent what he is talking about, all of the artwork has very bubbly letters and bright colors. This also translates into the music, as with all their albums the artwork matches the music almost perfectly. But when you look at the artwork for a while and listen to the music, you get the sense that the band has never actually seen or met the people and the culture that the graffiti came from, it seem like they have just seen pictures and could only see the silver lining in what is actually something that came from some very dark lives. At no point in listening to this music do you ever get the feel that you are on the streets, rather you feel you are in a studio with a wall being covered in spray paint by two lovebirds remembering their lives. It is very typical of Coldplay to romanticize things like this, and in all fairness it is probably what they were going for. When you get into the details of the music however, there are quite a few things that I am sure the band was not going for. Much of the music structure is repetitive, this is something they did a very good job to avoid on Viva la Vida. This also brings up my main problem with this album, and that is about five songs seem to want to be the climax of the story. There is nothing wrong with Coldplay making some stadium rockers, but it does not go well in the context of the album. There are so many screaming choruses by the time you get halfway through the album that you start to not take anything he says later on to heart. There are also no true highlights to this album either. 'Major Minus' is a pretty neat sounding rock song, but it cannot compare to something like 'Strawberry Swing' or 'Violet Hill'. The general feel this album gives me is not a big change from the last, it is just produced and recorded differently and lacks the high points. The only major difference is that it is much more of a pop record, but Viva could have very well been as well if that is what they wanted. All in all, this is not any major step away from 'Viva la vida', and in the grand scheme of things that really makes this album nothing spectacular. It is just a collection of some more songs for Coldplay to rule a festival with.… Full Review »
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