Kings of Leon
Kings of Leon "Only by the Night"
Blazing no new trails in the well-worn field of Southern rock, there was nonetheless something arrogant and primal about the first two recordings from the Followill boys, and last year's ambitious "Because of the Times" allowed the Tennessee sons of a preacher man to evolve their God, grits ‘n' girls approach in a mature, thrillingly dissonant way. The band's latest CD starts off promisingly with the bluesy moonlight of "Closer," but "Only by the Night" feels like a lateral move at best, completely devoid of any spirited urgency. A careful listen to the lyrics, with themes of vampires, "Sex On Fire" (ow!), and an opening line cribbed from Winger, hints that Kings of Leon doesn't have anything too memorable to say this time out. And Caleb Followill's once-desperate yowls now sound insincere in the midst of shiny production that's trying to groom KoL from hick rock to Bic rock, as though someone karate-chopped Gregg Allman in the throat and then shoved him onstage to front Coldplay.
Comments for "Kings of Leon "Only by the Night"" (3)
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Bill T said on Oct. 23, 2008 at 4:37pm
Dayna- Not sure what your profession is but it can't have any relation to the music idusrty. First of all you don't even have accurrate information on the band. This is their 4th full length cd to release. This cd rocks and can't wait to see them Live. Next time you review a CD you might want to try to take it off your record player and insert it into a cd player!
Eric said on Oct. 23, 2008 at 5:13pm
Dear Bill: Thanks for commenting. We appreciate you sharing your opinion, but please do not attack the writers. If you don't agree with the review, state your viewpoint. But there's no need to insult anyone's intelligence, and it won't be allowed on this site.
dayna said on Oct. 23, 2008 at 5:57pm
no, bill, i don't work in the music industry. i don't work in the math industry either, but first two + 'because of the times' + 'only by the night' = four where i come from. i didn't really count the initial ep, since 'holy roller novocaine' wound up relatively intact on ''youth and young manhood."
i sure am sad that we don't agree. see you at the show...
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