Highest Recent Ratings

Albums to watch

Boy King

Wild Beasts

Boy King

Fifth album from the English indie rock quartet, a concept album about modern masculinity produced by John Congleton (Sigur Ros, St Vincent, more)

ADM rating[?]

7.3

Label
Domino Records
UK Release date
05/08/2016
US Release date
05/08/2016
Listen on Spotify
Related Links
Last.fm Myspace Wikipedia
Share
Share |

  1. 10.0 |   The Line Of Best Fit

    Boy King punches more like Nine Inch Nails when Trent Reznor was still sexy, synths strafing and drums pounding like the outro to “Closer” teased out for forty minutes
    Read Review

  2. 9.1 |   A.V. Club

    Boy King is likely to estrange devotees to Wild Beasts’ early catalog of drums-bass-guitar music, but no doubt Thorpe, Fleming, and company are the ones most aware of that fact
    Read Review

  3. 8.5 |   Under The Radar

    A thrilling and evocative step forward for a band who seem to continue evolving at a remarkable rate
    Read Review

  4. 8.5 |   The Quietus

    Their most rowdy and rambunctious album yet
    Read Review

  5. 8.0 |   Mixmag

    Full of smart, pleasing vocal hooks and chiming guitar solos, ‘Boy King’ is way more rock than their electronic debut
    Read Review

  6. 8.0 |   No Ripcord

    Boy King lends further weight to the view that Wild Beasts are one of the best bands operating in Britain today, and it’s not shy in doing so
    Read Review

  7. 8.0 |   The FT

    Although lead vocalist Hayden Thorpe deploys his falsetto in a calmer, less burlesque fashion than before, his fluting high voice remains teasing and unpredictable, a provoking challenge to traditional ideas of manliness
    Read Review

  8. 8.0 |   The Independent

    May be the band’s best album yet
    Read Review

  9. 8.0 |   Evening Standard

    With presentation that is more gripping than ever, they remain one of our most intriguing bands
    Read Review

  10. 8.0 |   DIY

    The decade-old Wild Beasts are embracing the more carnal impulses of that moniker, and sounding all the more rejuvenated for it
    Read Review

  11. 8.0 |   The Skinny

    Certainly a contender for the most electronic of their canon, Boy King is perhaps also their most compact and claustrophobic release since 2011’s Smother
    Read Review

  12. 8.0 |   NME

    If they carry on at this rate, their next album will probably get them arrested
    Read Review

  13. 8.0 |   Uncut

    Songs of masculine crisis take on Texas sized proportions
    Read Review

  14. 8.0 |   Mojo

    Wild Beasts’ stripped down sound have developed incrementally into a more electronic direction. Print edition only

  15. 8.0 |   Loud And Quiet

    A fresh take on the electricity, funk oddities, lovelorn supplication and familiarly bold intent that make ‘Boy King’ an album that only Wild Beasts could have made
    Read Review

  16. 8.0 |   Q

    Exudes confidence to try new things, to experiment, to pull things apart and put them back together again. Print edition only

  17. 8.0 |   The Arts Desk

    They may have left their obvious peers behind, but Wild Beasts are maturing into one of our better proper rock bands
    Read Review

  18. 8.0 |   State

    A landmark album in its own right from a band that are constantly evolving.
    Read Review

  19. 8.0 |   The Music

    A delightful, refreshing and addictive sound that'll keep you coming back for more
    Read Review

  20. 8.0 |   The Guardian

    These songs are granite yet gossamer, with Hayden Thorpe’s glorious falsetto soaring over sleazy guitars and brutal funk on the likes of Tough Guy
    Read Review

  21. 7.5 |   Pretty Much Amazing

    This is must-witness music at its very finest
    Read Review

  22. 7.5 |   Beardfood

    Effective, but too crass
    Read Review

  23. 7.0 |   PopMatters

    A woefully uncensored portrait of masculine libido woven through their aesthetically tightest record to date
    Read Review

  24. 7.0 |   Clash

    Rock-hard and sloppy in equal measure, ‘Boy King’ is a creature of base instinct from a band of high intellect more used to drawing their songs from their frontal lobes than their testes
    Read Review

  25. 7.0 |   musicOMH

    After 40 minutes plus of this new, testosterone-soaked Wild Beasts, one does start to yearn a little for their more sensitive side
    Read Review

  26. 7.0 |   Gig Soup

    A solid enough record with plenty to enjoy, but because it lacks the emotional depth and intricate instrumentation of past works it becomes a difficult album to fall in love with
    Read Review

  27. 7.0 |   Drowned In Sound

    There is enough intriguing material which is unarguably theirs here which keeps this an inventive and enjoyable pop-rock record
    Read Review

  28. 6.8 |   Pitchfork

    By no means a disaster, but it is a disappointment
    Read Review

  29. 6.0 |   The Observer

    Too many songs sound like generic electronic rock. But a masterful mid-album run is as arresting and fresh as they wanted the rest of this album to be
    Read Review

  30. 5.8 |   Consequence Of Sound

    Even if it’s well-meaning, Boy King is a disconcertingly bleak portrait done without blinking
    Read Review

  31. 5.5 |   Spectrum Culture

    There’s no subtlety to Boy King. As a result, its rampant lust is just garish
    Read Review

  32. 5.0 |   Slant Magazine

    By blatantly exposing a core of raw sexuality, previously presented only indirectly in their music, the group ends up removing any possible release valve while stripping the songs of nuance
    Read Review

  33. 5.0 |   God Is In The TV

    It’s a frustrating contradiction of an album, one whose themes should play into the hands of the raunchier side of the group but that slips through their fingers with every clunky lyric
    Read Review

  34. 4.8 |   Earbuddy

    Wild Beasts try for a new sound, and come up with...something?
    Read Review

  35. 4.0 |   Crack

    Lyrically, the record comes off like a cheap, dated action film
    Read Review

  36. Back to main chart

blog comments powered by Disqus
buy it at amazon download it from itunes

Watch it

Roll over video for more options

Hear it

Preview & download it

Wild Beasts: Boy King

  • Download full album for just £8.49
  • 1. Big Cat £0.89
  • 2. Tough Guy £0.89
  • 3. Alpha Female £0.89
  • 4. Get My Bang £0.89
  • 5. Celestial Creatures £0.89
  • 6. 2BU £0.89
  • 7. He The Colossus £0.89
  • 8. Ponytail £0.89
  • 9. Eat Your Heart Out Adonis £0.89
  • 10. Dreamliner £0.89
  • 11. Boy King Trash N/A
  • Service provided by 7Digital

Latest Reviews

Mark Knopfler  One Deep River

Anyone who’s missed the sound of the sometime Dire Straits man expertly working the fretboard will find much to love on his first new album in six years musicOMH

Mark Knopfler  One Deep River

Feels like a highly personal statement, a real labour of love. Rooted in classic American songwriting, it feels humble, and often moving – when Mark Knopfler permits himself to cut loose, there’s a lot here to be swept away by Clash

Mark Knopfler  One Deep River

One Deep River closes with its poignant title track, a paean to an enduring landmark he has no doubt crossed countless times in a life well spent as a traveling musician All Music

More reviews

All-time top 10

Since we've been around, that is. So, the highest-rated albums from the past twelve years or so. Rankings are calculated to two decimal places.

  1. 9.3

    Kendrick Lamar To Pimp A Butterfly

  2. 9.2

    Fiona Apple Fetch The Bolt Cutters

  3. 9.1

    Kendrick Lamar Damn.

  4. 9.1

    D'Angelo And The Vanguard Black Messiah

  5. 9.0

    Nick Cave And The Bad Seeds Ghosteen

  6. 9.0

    Self Esteem Prioritise Pleasure

  7. 8.9

    Bob Dylan Rough and Rowdy Ways

  8. 8.9

    Nick Cave And The Bad Seeds Skeleton Tree

  9. 8.9

    Frank Ocean Channel Orange

  10. 8.9

    Dave We’re All Alone In This Together

See full list