If you’re one of those people who hate bands when they get successful then you’ve probably loudly stated your disgust at Tennessee’s Kings of Leon by now. Their album Youth and Young Manhood was gritty southern rock. With Aha Shake Heartbreak the music became more expansive, and stadium-sized, stepping away from the rootsy rock sound of before. With Because of the Times, their music and ambition has evolved to the stage where their new album is one of the most anticipated of 2008.
Only by the Night checks every KOL box early on: vague title; symmetrical artwork; thumping bass and drums; and fairly undecipherable lyrics (lots of keening stuff from Caleb Followill about girls, religion, longing and crazy nights). Atmospheric opening track Closer goes by fairly inoffensively, with some nice guitar work from cousin Matthew Followill, but without really grabbing much attention. Crawl is much better, a distorted thump through four minutes of religious metaphors and talk of the “crucified USA” for whom “Hell is surely on its way.” Sex on Fire is curiously titlaed and the first single is sure to be a future live favourite and the most obvious immediate song on the album. It could fit in perfectly on Because of the Times and throughout you can’t help but notice just that – how similar all the songs seem. The production is fine, plenty of space for the vocals to dominate, lots of echo on the Edge-like guitar, but no risks have been taken, it’s very much more of the same.
Unfortunately there’s not any individual song that stands out, it all passes by without truly impacting. Right up to the final song, the superb slow burning Cold Desert is so smooth that it’s hard to tell where one song ends and the next starts. That’s not to say that it doesn’t have its moments, but you find yourself wishing they’d kept some of the unpolished grit from their earlier career. There’s no reason to hate Kings Of Leon for being successful, but hopefully on their trip to becoming the band that everyone loves they haven’t forgotten what got them there.
Kings Of Leon- Sex On Fire (live at V Festival)
