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10.0
88978
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
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9.1
89094
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
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8.5
89099
8.5 |
Under The Radar
A thrilling and evocative step forward for a band who seem to continue evolving at a remarkable rate
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8.5
89463
8.5 |
The Quietus
Their most rowdy and rambunctious album yet
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8.0
89990
8.0 |
Mixmag
Full of smart, pleasing vocal hooks and chiming guitar solos, ‘Boy King’ is way more rock than their electronic debut
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8.0
90162
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
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8.0
89100
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
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8.0
89091
8.0 |
The Independent
May be the band’s best album yet
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8.0
89086
8.0 |
Evening Standard
With presentation that is more gripping than ever, they remain one of our most intriguing bands
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8.0
88964
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
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8.0
88965
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
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8.0
88966
8.0 |
NME
If they carry on at this rate, their next album will probably get them arrested
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8.0
88971
8.0 |
Uncut
Songs of masculine crisis take on Texas sized proportions
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8.0
88972
8.0 |
Mojo
Wild Beasts’ stripped down sound have developed incrementally into a more electronic direction. Print edition only
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8.0
88994
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
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8.0
88998
8.0 |
Q
Exudes confidence to try new things, to experiment, to pull things apart and put them back together again. Print edition only
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8.0
89015
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
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8.0
89021
8.0 |
State
A landmark album in its own right from a band that are constantly evolving.
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8.0
89028
8.0 |
The Music
A delightful, refreshing and addictive sound that'll keep you coming back for more
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8.0
89039
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
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7.5
89098
7.5 |
Pretty Much Amazing
This is must-witness music at its very finest
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7.5
89104
7.5 |
Beardfood
Effective, but too crass
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7.0
89150
7.0 |
PopMatters
A woefully uncensored portrait of masculine libido woven through their aesthetically tightest record to date
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7.0
89197
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
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7.0
89097
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
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7.0
89019
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
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7.0
88962
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
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6.8
89102
6.8 |
Pitchfork
By no means a disaster, but it is a disappointment
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6.0
89090
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
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5.8
88993
5.8 |
Consequence Of Sound
Even if it’s well-meaning, Boy King is a disconcertingly bleak portrait done without blinking
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5.5
89167
5.5 |
Spectrum Culture
There’s no subtlety to Boy King. As a result, its rampant lust is just garish
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5.0
88963
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
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5.0
89014
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
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4.8
90246
4.8 |
Earbuddy
Wild Beasts try for a new sound, and come up with...something?
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4.0
89077
4.0 |
Crack
Lyrically, the record comes off like a cheap, dated action film
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