Pressure Machine
| The Killers
Pressure Machine
Pressure Machine is the seventh studio album by American rock band the Killers. It was released on August 13, 2021. The album features the return of guitarist Dave Keuning to the studio with the band, after his absence on the previous album Imploding the Mirage, while bassist Mark Stoermer was absent due to difficulties caused by the COVID-19 pandemic during recording. Jonathan Rado and Shawn Everett returned to produce the album. -Wikipedia
Critic Reviews
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Atwood Magazine
Intimate, cinematic, and stirring, The Killers’ seventh album ‘Pressure Machine’ aims to capture a slice of “Americana” through powerfully expressive storytelling: Tales of loss and tragedy, depression and disenchantment, nostalgia and longing comprise the band’s most visceral and vulnerable exploration of small town life and the poignant pursuit of the American dream.
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Pitchfork
Brandon Flowers dials back the pomp for an intimate, homespun, and sometimes clunky tour through the small town where he grew up.
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Rolling Stone
The Killers Offer a Widescreen Chronicle of Small Town Life on ‘Pressure Machine’.
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NME
a fascinating, character-driven homecoming.
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mxdwn Music
Pressure Machine is a soulful and delicate insight into the small-town life once lived. It is a change from their previous work, and fans will enjoy hearing the band in a new vulnerable tone.
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The Guardian
their best album in years.
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Our Culture
The Killers have always been more interested in melody and feeling than delivering the perfect marriage of lyrics and sound, but here, and throughout Pressure Machine, the attention to detail pays off. More than just a stylistic choice, the dusky, ‘90s-indebted tones evoke a kind of solitary dread that not only serves as the backdrop for these tales but also helps bring them to life – or, in the case of ‘Desperate Things’, cut it short.
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Treblezine
Will Pressure Machine turn heads and reignite the band? Almost certainly not. But it is a mature work and a satisfying one at that, which is perhaps a more enduring accomplishment anyway.
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Guitar
A BEAUTIFULLY ETCHED PICTURE OF SMALL-TOWN AMERICA.
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Loud and Quiet
All told, I’m deeply ambivalent about Pressure Machine. On the one hand, I have to respect Flowers’ songwriting talent. He definitely knows how to inhabit a character and can wail them out like the best of them. However, as a piece of blue-collar rock, I can’t help but feel that this record has a whiff of David Cameron’s Hug-A-Hoodie rhetoric about it. No doubt it’s well-meaning – it’s sympathetic to its characters and does an excellent job of showing you how they live.
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Range
The Killers’ latest is a COVID-era experiment that really works, and a striking concept album that easily stands up with some of their classics.
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UNF Spinnaker
The emotional lyrics and somber instrumentation create a very personal listen from The Killers. The repetition of voice tracks at the beginning of each song can be a little distracting from listening to songs individually, but create a very smooth story for the album as a whole. This album is a unique release for The Killers, utilizing new techniques without taking away any of their classic sounds.
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SPIN
Pressure Machine is, in totality, a commendable and genuinely surprising big swing, which mostly connects. It’s a project that proves The Killers won’t yet settle for festival-headlining rock legacy status. Though it will be interesting to see if the average Killers fan will grant this album the closer listening it deserves — or will they just speed on past the “barbed wire town of barbed wire dreams.”
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Swim Into The Sound
Pressure Machine takes the winning ingredients of The Killers’ discography and melds them into one singular 50-minute experience that manages to feel unique. This record takes the personable human tales of Sam’s Town weaves those stories together with the production and style that made their last record stick.
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Paste Magazine
Pressure Machine is consumed with dramatic intensity and Flowers’ vivid insights into a downtrodden city he once called home. His honesty is disconcerting, but in the best sense of the word. This is The Killers’ second album released during a pandemic, without the assurance of when it’ll be performed in front of an actual crowd. All of the emotional turmoil that this record holds makes it a thrilling—and kind of frightful—experience from start to finish.
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United by Pop
For The Killers, Pressure Machine is, in fact, a collection of stories, but it’s a retelling, and though each one is different from one another, the one thing that flows from track to track is that the sense of community is alive and at the forefront of this album.
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Slant Magazine
The songs on the Killers’s Pressure Machine take their sweet time unfurling, luxuriating in subtle details.
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The Young Folks
Pressure Machine leaves me with nothing but excitement for The Killers’ next record, nothing but excitement to see where Brandon Flowers’ inspiration will come from next.
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Riff Magazine
Fast-paced with Flowers’ voice reaching peak angst, and about an ill-fated love affair, it will be sure to please longtime fans.
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Under the Radar Magazine
It is most certainly The Killers’ finest album since Battle Born, and successfully proves The Killers as visionary musicians who shall surely help to define “classic rock” for many generations to come.
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Redbrick Music
Pressure Machine is an album about frustration, the amplification of small problems in environments where there is nowhere to escape to, and longing for freedom. It is about making desperate attempts to remain thankful for what you have, whilst also cursing the fact that you have been dealt a poor hand. It is profoundly human, in a time when we have been reflecting perhaps more than ever on what exactly that means.
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The Edge
The Killers turn to a concept record, loaded with vignettes of life in Utah, to detour from last year's Imploding The Mirage.
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XS Noize
Pressure Machine is a mixed bag, both musically and narratively. It should be applauded for its success in creating and maintaining its established atmosphere. The idea of having a continuous narrative on the album is strengthened by featuring no obvious radio hit and instead allowing each song to compliment the overall piece.
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The Rice Thresher
“Pressure Machine” takes a rather surprising direction from the Killers’ rebranding less than a year ago, reminding listeners that they still have a lot of versatility left to explore.
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The Line of Best Fit
Pressure Machine isn’t made to compete with their jubilant, indie trenched past. It’s made to be an honest portrayal of a life that, in its own desolate way, holds a white-hot shine to those that in turn hold it dear. This is an unknown lifeblood that The Killers have brought to life. They've created something cinematic, pragmatic, and above all, fantastically like nothing we’ve heard from them before.
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The Forty-Five
The point of this record isn’t to make crowds go wild, though, and, as a still snapshot of small-town life, it’s a beautifully executed trip out of our rooms and into somewhere new.
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The Needle Drop
Having flirted with heartland rock on their previous album, The Killers delve much deeper into the sound on the conceptual Pressure Machine.
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The Fire Note
In 2004, Brandon Flowers said he wanted The Killers to be “America’s answer to U2.” In terms of The Killers’ music, their spirituality, their legacy, and their enduring ability to fill stadiums around the world, I’d say they’re almost there.
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Sputnik Music
This is easily The Killers' crowning achievement, and it is likely to go down as one of the most important albums of this era.
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Exclaim!
The experiment has succeeded wildly, and the Killers need to own their new form. They've aged into something more pensive, monumental and vital. The party is over, and we need these empathetic folktales much more than any of us need to dance. For that, we have Imploding the Mirage. And Hot Fuss, obviously.
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The Musical Hype
The Killers deliver a fantastic seventh studio album with Pressure Machine, which arrives less than a year after Imploding the Mirage.
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The Ithacan
“Pressure Machine” is a bizarre album relative to The Killers’s other work, but “unusual” should never be synonymous with “bad,” especially not here. The album is consoling in that there is beauty that exists even in tragedy. It is a reminder that not everyone can shine, but that they can still be a symbol of artistry made of coarse, sterner material.
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Brooklyn Vegan
Pressure Machine is an overwhelmingly pleasant album, but it leaves much to be desired, like raw enough production to warrant the Nebraska comparison without caveats, or melodies that hit as hard as the ones on Imploding the Mirage.
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The Indiecator
The Killers’ seventh country-fied album Pressure Machine is about as far as you can get from the bright lights of Vegas.
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No Ripcord
Pressure Machine has the air of a friend who's retelling a story that they don’t have all the details, padded out with vague sentiments instead. This time, it’s disguised under a sprinkling of dust, but the band’s blinkered aspiration to create a classic again produces an album that is enjoyable but hollow. In that way, at least, Pressure Machine is a Killers album just like any other.
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Stereoboard
‘Pressure Machine’ is still a wonderful listen due to the heart, soul and truth emanating from its core. Written during an unprecedented global period of introspection and reflection, that shared experience that joins listener and creator renders an added subtextual power to the record’s relatable themes. It contributes to a magnetic and comforting listen that feels much more profound, meaningful and, dare we say, human than The Killers’ usual fare.
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DIY Magazine
‘Pressure Machine’ does prove that not all escapism arrives with a hook-laden chorus. This is an album which invites you to dig a little deeper.
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Clash Magazine
Largely constructed by The Killers central four-piece once more, ‘Pressure Machine’ is perhaps the closest we’ve come to the emotional core of the group itself. A rich, rewarding experience, this isn’t an album to be understood easily – uneasy listening, it could be their most enlightening record yet.
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Consequence Sound
The stark, stoic songwriting coursing through Pressure Machine tells a much more layered story however, and by the time that same train can be heard approaching in the album’s final coda, it’s up to the listener to decide whether it’s a harbinger of impending doom or an altogether different way of finding your way out of life in a forgotten town.
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The Scarlet & Gray
It is safe to say that The Killers’ venture into Springsteen and Willy Nelson’s territory is a success.
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Music Matters Media
Pressure Machine echoes the town around which it is based; it’s imperfect and messy, but ultimately loveable and charming.
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Gigwise
One of the Killers’ most evocative and essential albums.
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X96
I grew up in Hooper, so this album feels like it was written just for me. I think everyone from a small town in Utah and throughout the country will appreciate this spectacular gem. But make no mistake, it is blatantly local. In fact, much of the album was written and recorded in Park City and Provo. I think you’ll savor every moment of Pressure Machine. It’s my favorite album of the year.
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Alt Revue
One thing is for sure, even after being around for over 20 years, The Killers continue to show they know how to make music that is cutting edge.
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Belwood Music
They’ve shown a new level of depth, maturity and ambition, and Pressure Machine stands as the jewel in their crown.
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Beats Per Minute
there is a power that Pressure Machine possesses in its ability to make us aware that every individual we encounter lives in an entire world separate from anybody else. As these tracks demonstrate, we can know a snippet or two about somebody’s life, but, ultimately, never their entire story.
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Music Existence
Pressure Machine is a solid reminder that anyone can do the same when examining how to live life after unprecedented times. If The Killers can look ahead to a brighter future, then we can too.
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B-Sides
This introspection makes ‘Pressure Machine’ one of the most appealing Killers records of the past decade, and shows the band recommitting to their own artistic process by recommitting to the communities they come from. It’s refreshing to see Flowers really trying to figure these complex issues out as he writes, and that effort alone makes the less striking songs on this album endearing.
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When The Horn Blows
With hard work, hard play and the power of rock music, it's time to relieve some pressure. There's no better band for the job than The Killers.
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The Irish Times
With vignette-driven storytelling like this, it’s unsurprising that Flowers took inspiration from two great observers of American malaise, Bruce Springsteen and John Steinbeck. A little on the nose for some tastes at times – wild horses are surely done to death by now? – but even the misses here are handled with care.
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Hotpress
The limits of a quiet, sleepy town can appear melancholy from the outside, yet The Killers perfectly highlight the strength and beauty of their authentic homeland.
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AllMusic
Pressure Machine remains dour and bittersweet. This matured focus on concept and mood saves the album from becoming an odd catalog misstep, serving instead as a dignified artistic exercise that rewards the band's bravery by becoming the most heartfelt and poignant statement of their careers.
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The Independent
Frontman Brandon Flowers has clearly put his heart into these stories of a small Bible Belt town, but they could do with a little more campfire crackle.
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Renowned For Sound
A thought-provoking project, it is endearing to see a band so established as The Killers looking for ways to push their music, themselves, and maybe even their fans. And it helps they’ve produced some great-sounding songs in doing so!
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Watters Music Blog
This album is their 3rd best ever, give it a listen, give it a spin, you probably won't be disappointed.
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Forge Press
Pressure Machine may lack the killer-edge of its predecessors and a couple of ideas are recycled but other elements of this fresh outlook are up there with the most powerful The Killers have ever crafted. An album at its most rewarding when appreciating this single-less project’s bleakness, The Killers’ unexpected new endeavour to tackle small-town America confirms their perseverance to stay at the top.
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The Boar
Lyrically, Pressure Machine is also vastly more interesting than anything they’ve written before – their indecorous line “are we human or are we dancers” from the Day and Age album comes to mind. Instead, Pressure Machine is lyrically character-driven, exploring the residents of a “barbed wire town of barbed wire dreams” in ‘Terrible Thing’. This is paired with snippets of interviews with Nephi’s residents. Not only does this complete the album, but also makes it feel much more intimate and real.
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The Weather Vane
On a more technical perspective, the sound here isn’t anything I would consider new, but boy, does it work. Flowers does a great job at creating a beautifully bittersweet sound through guitar and violin and even a little mandolin, broken up with more fleeting sounds of harmonica and synth that complement Flowers’s voice. Flowers has really figured out how to convey a sense of rawness not only in his lyrics, but in the sound, too.
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Irish Examiner
As a departure from The Killers’ arena bombast, Pressure Machine isn’t entirely successful. While the songs have clearly been put together with care, and are melodically watertight, Flowers lyrics can’t quite bear the weight of the misery.
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Retro Pop
Perhaps in 20 years we’ll look back at ‘Pressure Machine’ as a career highlight, but right now the weight of the album sits a little too heavy to truly appreciate its merit.
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The Upcoming
As a band that has only expanded in sound, it is warming to catch them in a moment of grounding. It will be interesting to see how they weave this new sound into their traditional style; Pressure Machine might just be a catalyst for an abundance of possibilities. The Killers have never relied on their big guitar and grandeur to tell stories; Flowers’s lyricism alone poeticises the rawest of tales. This musing on the simple truths of people – often aided by merely a fiddle – proves they are authentic to their bones. The band is consistently rolling forwards and widening their reach. Even when closing in on the past for their narratives, their subtlety and blatant tragedy have remained strong.
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Ben's Beat
Pressure Machine is exactly why we need to do everything we can to stop the album format from dying out – a concept album that clearly comes from personal experience that has provided years and years of writing material that Flowers has been pondering ever since. Newly topical in today’s divisive political climate, Pressure Machine is a triumph and stands as The Killers’ greatest songwriting effort yet.
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The 13th Floor
This is a mature, thoughtful collection of songs…very American, yet universal. While it may not make you dance, it will make you think, and feel.
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Vinyl Chapters
Ultimately, whilst I understand what this album is attempting to do – and it isn’t without its poignance – it just doesn’t do it for me. Musically, the record is, for the most part, forgettable, save for a few glimmers of more memorable instrumentation here and there. The subject matter may be intense and the lyrics may be poetic, but I can’t say I will be listening to this album again in a hurry.
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Stack
Quiet drunk nights, boring days where the heat is oppressive, and always a hint of danger, it’s an encapsulation of what it means to realise yourself in a small town. The Killers’ best work has always come from a place of introspection, and in their most engaging work since Sam’s Town they find their glory in the desert of Utah.
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musicOMH
For an about turn, detour, whatever you want to call it, Pressure Machine is a decent attempt at a concept album of sorts. Some mountainous peaks would take it to the next level; without them it feels as though it could soon, somewhat disappointingly, disappear.
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Euphoriazine
The Killers’ Pressure Machine is this bleak, nihilistic look into the death of the American Mountain West. And although Flowers does have moments of hope, the album seems to depict the death of innocence for many who grew up in towns like Nephi.
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