Kings of Leon: Mechanical Bull album review

Now I openly admit I am no music expert, in fact I would go so far as to say since I left university and started work in ‘real world’ so to say I am a bit out of touch. Don’t get me wrong I listen to the radio everyday back and forth from work (and living in Edinburgh means this can be a long time) and am an expert on any cheesy pre 90’s music from before I was born but basically my opinion is just that – opinion without any solid musical background unless you count music theatre exams which even I don’t!

Track 1 – Super Soaker is the first single to be released from this album and has been on the radio for a good while now, the song is catchy and good for a bit of out of tune car singing due to the fact that the chorus line ‘I don’t mind sentimental girls at times’ is repeated about a 100 times in 3 minutes – In all this song is what I would call up beat but not to ‘pop’ and probably the best on the album.

Rock city track 2 is a more indie song, a bit less mainstream and one of those songs that sounds more like someone talking over music rather than singing, not a bad song but not great either. Track 3 –‘Don’t matter’ is quite boy bandy for Kings of Leon (although still with their signature twang) and again quite a good sing along song but nothing special.

Track 4 – ‘Beautiful war’ is a love song of sorts not the mushy type but still nice and gives the warm and  fuzziness,  I wouldn’t go as far as to say its  ballad and actually I think it might be about heartbreak but still a good listen. 5 – Temple – I am not always sure what the lyrics are but the song is catchy.

6. Wait for me – nice song about asking someone to wait as the name suggests. 7. Family tree – I find myself singing this song but I actually don’t really like it. 8 – Comeback story – sounds almost country with a nice upbeat tune. 9 – Tonight – couldn’t really get into this song other than the chorus which was still just mediocre. 10 – Coming back again – by this point the songs are all starting to sound the same in all honesty and 11 – On the chin is just the same. I am not saying these aren’t good songs just a bit dull after a while – forgettable.

Overall a good mix of songs and quite listenable for the casual fan but after a while the songs do all start to sound the same. I don’t think I would choose this album as one to listen to over other new albums but for driving music or background noise it’s ok. I would rate the album 6/10 mainly due to the fact that although I can listen to all the songs there is no great song like ‘Sex on fire’ that you would shout ‘tune’ and turn up, also I haven’t found myself singing any of the songs other than Super Soaker which is a sure sign of a hit for me.

Tori Fennelly