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Free from their strict Pentecostal father, Kings of Leon’s Followill brothers (plus cousin Matthew) spent their first two records establishing themselves as horny Nashville youngsters with a neo-garage-rock style that got them tagged as the “Southern Strokes.” Nowadays, the Kings are feeling a different sound: Like last year’s Because of the Times, Only by the Night is long on astral, arena-ready largeness, with blippy keyboards, droney guitars and whoa-oh-oh backing vocals. Frontman Caleb Followill cranks up his Allman Brothers howl, turning out big choruses with sometimes tough-to-parse lyrics and deep-feeling melodies reportedly influenced by pain meds he began taking after shoulder surgery. The revamped sound doesn’t always work: Cuts like the slow-burning murk-fest “Cold Desert” feel like sub-John Mayer soul — bland and overly ponderous. But when the Kings find a gussied-up groove with teeth — like the effects-laden Zeppelin stomp of “Crawl” or the pulsating, Read the rest of this entry »

6 of 6 thought this review was well written

So you’ve overcome second album syndrome with a critically-acclaimed improvement of your first record. Fantastic. But the question remains- where do you go from here?

Invariably, this is the question that the boys Followill- Nathan, Caleb, Matt and Jared- have asked themselves. So on to album number three. Entitled Because of The Times- so called, says Caleb, because “if the record sells, it’s because of the times; if the record fails, it’s because of the times”- the band seem to have taken similar approaches as bands like The Strokes; when you hear this record, you’ll know it’s them, but you will also immediately notice changes.

The album begins as such with “Knocked Up”. Several special things about this song; for one, it’s the longest song the band have ever done at seven-plus minutes. Not a lot’s been done with this song production-wise either, as it sounds like it’s just another jam session song (if listening closely, the Followills can be heard conversing in the first few seconds). Matt’s chirpy lead guitar is backed well by an almost militant drumroll that remains persistent throughout. Read the rest of this entry »