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Nashville duo The Black Keys doused listeners last week with “Let’s Rock,” the first full-length entry into the group’s garage-and-blues rock catalog in five years. 

Band architects Dan Auerbach and Patrick Carney returned to Easy Eyes Sound in Nashville to track the 12-song effort, which dropped June 28 via Easy Eye and Nonesuch Records. 

What’s the word on “Let’s Rock”? Review aggregation site Metacritic scores the album at 75 out of 100, a “generally favorable” response from tastemakers. A closer look at what critics think of the record … 

INTERVIEW:The Black Keys on ‘Let’s Rock,’ death row and making friends with Jack White

” … there is nothing that comes close to matching the unbridled euphoria of the breakthrough songs that made them unlikely indie disco floor-fillers at the start of the decade. It all adds up to an album that’s solid rather than spectacular.” — The Guardian, three out of five. 

” … It will probably not convince you that Auerbach and Carney are finally having fun. But you might catch yourself having a muted sort of fun.” — The Ringer, no rating. 

“To listen to indie-rock in 2019 is to once again delight in a distorted guitar line, dispelling rumors of the genre’s ailing health. The latest band to give it artistic CPR (is) The Black Keys.” — The Independent, four out of five. 

“If you want something you can crank up at backyard barbecues or in the car with the windows down, well, The Black Keys have two words for you, and they’re in the album title.” — Paste, 7.2 out of 10. 

“This is an album by the Black Keys called “Let’s Rock.” That’s what it does.” — Pitchfork, seven out of 10. 

“The beloved blues rock kings return, after five years away, with a record whose spontaneous energy can’t mask its undercooked sound and lack of impact.” — NME,three out of five. 

“The point of ‘Let’s Rock’ isn’t to revisit the basement blooze of the early ’00s; it’s to remind fans of the early ’10s, when The Black Keys were one of the biggest rock bands in the world. Unfortunately, while ‘El Camino’ still sounds like one of the decade’s most confident and undeniable mainstream rock records, “Let’s Rock” feels like an attempt to retrieve something that perhaps can no longer be recovered.” — Uproxx, no rating. 

More: The Raconteurs return for first album in 11 years, ‘Help Us Stranger’

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