Long hair, check. Jackets, check. Underwear....
oh, damn, not again.
The Followill family, aka the Kings of Leon, are releasing their fourth album Only By The Night on September 23th and I've had a chance to preview all the tracks. I can't say at first listen, I would rank it up there with their earlier works such as Youth and Young Manhood, which established them as the "southern fried Strokes". Certainly, it is not their masterpiece, Aha Shake Heartbreak, one of my favorite albums of 2004. This effort is probably more on par with their uneven, overly polished 2006 release Because Of The Times.
"Closer", which actually is the opener for the CD, has a nice polysynth effect and a great beat, but it never breaks out like you're expecting it to. "Crawl" begins with an awesome intro full of distorted bass and guitars and hangs on for the most enjoyable song on the CD. "Sex on Fire" is a good standard rocker reminiscent of their Heartbreak days with the Kings gushing literally about their favorite subject matter until the chorus of "You, your sex on fire, and so were the words to transpire" just becomes a silly half-hearted attempt to rhyme. From there on out the Kings seem too restrained to ever find the payoff. "I Want You" is a good example with the potential to be a great song, starting with an interesting drum and cowbell beat accompanyed by a solid bass line, but it just never develops much beyond that. It seems to me the Kings have been playing it too safe on the last two releases and simply unwilling to take any chances. They have refined their sound to the point where the urgency has been lost. That urgency on their earlier releases was what made them great to begin with.
I've posted some of my favorites from all four releases below. Compare their earlier work and you can be the judge.
Rating: 5/10
The Kings are on tour with We Are Scientists, but you'll need to a take a short road trip from Indy. They are going to be in Chicago at the Aragon Ballroom on Halloween night and in Nashville at the Municipal Auditorium on November 19th.
Only By The Night
Crawl
Sex On Fire
Rating: 5/10
The Kings are on tour with We Are Scientists, but you'll need to a take a short road trip from Indy. They are going to be in Chicago at the Aragon Ballroom on Halloween night and in Nashville at the Municipal Auditorium on November 19th.
Only By The Night
Crawl
Sex On Fire
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2 comments:
I didn't like Because of The Times much, so I'm not expecting this one to be a lot better. Thanks anyway for the review.
Yeah, seems like they got famous and stopped rocking.
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