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Kings Of Leon - Only By The Night

Kings Of Leon

Only By The Night

4 / 10

18th September 2008

By Undertheradar

I like Kings Of Leon. I like that it sounds good when I’m driving and I like that they were great live at our Big Day Out.

They were the band that you kind of feel happy that they made it into the mainstream, with their mumbled verses and sinister preacher background.

But mainstream they are now, with only a fraction difference from Bryan Adams and other soft 90s bands. They have certainly moved from niche to stadium rockers, with anthems to boot. Not that this in entirely a bad thing (this void needs to be filled) but I find it hard to see past “sex on fire”. Seriously? Seems like they might have been swayed by the marketers on that one …"You know, you’ll see 7.8% more sales if you use the words sex and fire in your choruses...", oh well at least their mugs aren’t on the album cover.

They are still a great rock band, and there is still hope , but it's time for me to let go.

comments

Total: 7

The Beatles, Radiohead, The Who, Led Zeppelin, R.E.M

Posted by Michael M. 2 years ago

I agree with Lukin (posted on 29 Sept) below , this album review sounds like someone who has simply gotten tired of KOL, but there's not enough detail about why it's only a 4/ 10. There's some great songs on the new album - Use Somebody, Notion, and Cold Desert, and that single is ctachy as all hell.
Reviews are subjective - everyone knows that, but they need to read like someone has actually listened to the whole frickin album.
Any band that can write rock songs like Sex on Fire that crawl up into your headspace and make themselves at home, is alright with me.

Posted by crispeye 3 years ago

Are you kidding me!? I flippin LOVE this album. I love having a sweet sing along to it. The last track, Cold Desert is AMAZING. I love the fade, then Caleb comes back in, it is beautiful.
I like this album better than Because of the Times. I think Aha Shake is the best album though.

Posted by chlo 3 years ago

yeah I agree with the reviewer .. a sad slow fade for kol . this album falls hauntingly close to U2ish big band big soundish kind of feel with a lot less of the rough hooks and loose sounds of old . loved the first album - quite liked the second and parts of the third (the brilliant 'fans' for example) . But this new one is depressingly mainstream , anthemy ,no really great pop tunes, pretty uninventive and very very not edgy - dull .

Posted by 5376 3 years ago

my flatmate bought this album and i had to give it a shot!
m.o.r! an album full of fake drama

i have seen this band 3 times over 4/5 years and they get worse--too much time in nyc/London trying to be cutting edge and not enough of the snotty southern hooks that first caught my ears!!

hope left the building long ago!!!

Posted by 318 3 years ago

I've heard the new album a couple of times and it sounds pretty good to me. Generally I like my album reviews to be a bit more substantial than two sentences. Apart from criticising lyrics to one song (the lead single) this review doesn't really say anything else to back up the 4 out of 10. Seeing as most other reviews I've read have given the same rating (but out of five) I wouldn't take this review as gospel. Sure the new album's slicker and more anthemic, but I don't think that the production is completely polished - there are definitely some rough edges here and there - take a listen to the bass sound on 'Crawl' - it's rough as fuck. I think it's just a new evolution from a band who are becoming one of the best live rock bands around and are writing the tunes to fit that. Someone has too.

Posted by lukin 3 years ago

the first two albums were great, I still have hope.

Posted by 259 3 years ago

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