The Kingdom (Bush album)
The Kingdom is the eighth studio album by English rock band Bush. It was originally scheduled to be released in May 2020 but it was later pushed back to a release date of 17 July 2020. The band released two singles prior to the album, the first being "Bullet Holes" which was released in May 2019 and featured in the film "", and the second single off the album was "Flowers on a Grave" and was released one year later in March 2020. Background and title of album. In May 2019, Bush set "The Mind Plays Tricks  on You" as the title of their new studio album, tentatively due in fall 2019. Recorded in Los Angeles, "The Kingdom" was the first Bush album on which Robin Goodridge did not perform, who had played as the drummer for the band since 1993. Content. Gavin Rossdale remarked in May 2018 that the next Bush album would contain "heavier" songs written from an "angrier perspective". "The Upcoming" opined that Bush brought "electronic-laced alternative rock" to the new record, comparable to their previous effort "Black and White Rainbows". To contrast, "Kerrang!" detailed that "The Kingdom" presented "a far heavier, more  riff-based and muscular approach" that its 2017 predecessor. "Rolling Stone Magazine" opined "The Kingdom" to be a grunge effort, akin to the band's earliest work. "The Kingdom" detailed many personal narratives in its lyrics. "Send in the Clowns" chronicled feelings of being misunderstood, "Crossroads" recounted taking decisions in life, while "Falling Away" narrated a feeling of personal freedom. Rossdale remarked in an interview with "LouderSound" that "Our Time Will Come" relayed "looking through anything bleak in your life and realising that amazing things are happening and amazing things will come". Reception. "The Kingdom" received an aggregate score of  57/100 from "Metacritic" suggesting "mixed or average reviews. Neil Z. Yeung of "AllMusic" was heavily lauding of "The Kingdom", declaring it "an absolute bounty of riffs" and to "recall the best" of past releases such as "Golden State" and "The Science of Things". Macie Bennett of "American Songwriter" gave a positive 4-out-of-5 star review, and opined that Bush "may have released its best yet" with "The Kingdom". British publication "Entertainment Focus" gave a highly praising review, and remarked that the record saw Bush "creating some of the most interesting, and diverse, music in the rock genre right now , and that it was an addictive record" that should "see the band's popularity soar again". A review by Paul Travers for "Kerrang!" was strongly positive, hailing "The Kingdom" "a return to Bush’s glory days". "Rolling Stone"'s Kory Grow gave mostly negative feedback, detailing that the songs "trudge through the same monochromatic grunge" of earlier releases. Grow further dismissed the record's music as derivative, commenting that the single "Bullet Holes" "musically, rips off U2’s “Bullet the Blue Sky”". Track listing. Tracks written by Gavin Rossdale unless otherwise noted.