Kings Of Leon have always held a large appeal for me, from their first album proper Youth And Young Manhood, they set out a sonic intent to engineer beautiful music that although largely radio-friendly, also had the ability to polarise opinion instantaneously. This can be accredited to a quirky, off-par public persona, both from the sounds they created and the image they portrayed. One memory I have of their early months in the public domain is of the band adorning their once trademark long hair and Nirvana t-shirts. The first single, Mollys Chambers, from their debut 5-song EP Holy Roller Novocaine, achieved some considerable airplay given the age of the band and the nature of their sound. Commercial success was a distant second to the sound at that point, which adds weight to the argument that their new album, Only By The Night, has been engineered to line their wallets rather than maintain and please the staunch set of fans they’ve accumulated over the years.
I could go in to a discography and break down the bands rise to their current status, but I think we’re all getting a little tired of hearing about the band in general, all we really want to know is ‘how good is this album?’, and the answer depends, ironically, on where you have come from to be with the band right now. As only a part-time follower for the last 5-6 years, I can listen to Only By The Night without thinking Kings Of Leon have let me down. The band owe me nothing, they don’t have a debt to feed my musical taste.
But what for those that have followed the bad since day one? I fear they may reflect upon the album as a failure, a departure from their original sound too drastic to justify a natural progression of their sound.
That said sound is glorious, it’s coated, it will stroke you to sleep and occasionally slap you back out of your slumber for 3 minutes of fun, as with Sex On Fire, which, to the contrary, 3 minutes would not an On Fire Sex make. Thats talking from experience.
The opener, Closer, starts the album off as it means to go on. A delicate gem of a track that oozes confidence in their ability to put together sounds, as is the prerequisite for any band entertaining thought of longevity. A soft, dreamy intro, that I cant work out whether its played through an FX pedal, or a keyboard, either way, its delicious, and sucks you straight in. And once you’re in, there’s little chance of getting out as soon as Caleb Followills’ (full band line-up below) visceral vocals tear a strip out of your ears.
Full Band Line-Up
- Caleb Followill (lead singer, rhythm guitar)
- Nathan Followill (drums)
- Jared Followill (bass)
- Matthew Followill (lead guitar)
Caleb’s voice has the unique quality of sounding like a grit-coated ten-pin bowling ball, even in the bands most delicate moments, of which Closer is certainly one of them.
The second track, Crawl, is unfortunately the albums weakest, and would have been better served as an anonymous track placed somewhere about 9th in order, so I wont waste any more time on it, but its worth mentioning that if this had appeared on, say, a Razorlight album, it would be a stand-out track, its just hard to be a stand-out track in an album already bursting at the seams with them.
Never fear, however, as the next track that steams your way is the arresting Sex On Fire. A track that eventually proved to be the launch pad for the current lofty perches they assume in the musical landscape. This is one of those ‘instant’ success songs, a song that has no patience for the hard-to-please, so it decides instead to rip their face off and spit pure pop brilliance in to the bleeding cavity.
Unless you’ve got a psychotic Austrian father with a penchant for basements, you have no excuse for not being aware of this track already.
And the same applies to Use Somebody, the track that I think everyone will consider one of their favourites of the year, and will surpass Sex On Fire for appeal, if it hasn’t already. On a personal note, it is one of my girlfriend and I’s songs, so it will always have a great amount of fondness in my eyes.
Audibly when I hear Manhattan I hear Closer, which is not to say its not a fantastic track, but here is the point in the album that the lack of diversity and eclecticism in the delivery rears its minimal head. A decent track, a nice bass line, but sonically akin to eating white bread, on a monday morning, in Runcorn.
Lets surge through the album now and find ourself at Be Somebody, as I feel this track offers us the greatest clue as to the bands aspirations as they sat in that recording studio in 2007 devising their world domination. I can almost hear the dialogue now, as they dissect those bands that have resurfaced stronger, more polished, finely tuned and ready for an assault on the ‘big-time’.
I can guarantee one band name popped-up more than any other, the Red Hot Chilli Peppers. The way the Chilli’s, and perhaps more notably the Foo Fighters have made themselves relevant in an age of younger, tighter, more beautiful bands is to be admired, and in Kings Of Leon’s case, replicated.
The sound is not too dissimilar, but in particular on Be Somebody, with the almost tribal style drum intro, there are clear signs that this rise to the top has been crafted, and not thrust upon them.
That is not a derogatory stab at the band. It is my personal opinion that if the guys wish to make their bank balances correlate to their talent, then good luck to them. They deserve commercial success, if only for the years spent around the periphery constantly pushing quality music to limited reception.