I remember back in 2005 when Kings of Leon opened up for U2 at the GM Place Stadium during U2's North American Leg of their 'Vertigo' Tour, and I had the fortune to be back stage while Kings of Leon performed their opening slot.
At the time, I was completely unaware of who they were, and to be honest, disappointed and disturbed that they were opening up for such a huge international act as U2. It seemed like the band was misplaced and out of their league. After the show back in 2005, I researched the band more in depth and was seriously surprised to find out how big they actually were, and how much international recognition they had achieved. Even to this day, I think that same underlying notion hangs in my head - I'm still surprised how big they are.
Rolling Stone described the background of the Kings as, "the epitome of a mythological rock & roll story. The Followill brothers are sons of a preacher man who were raised on the road throughout the South, traveling from one Pentecostal church service to the next. They were shattered by a divorce, transformed by illicit substances and the stoner music of Led Zeppelin and rewarded with a Nashville record deal for their grinding garage-boogie sound and raw, Southern gothic lyrics. "
The Kings of Leon have a sound that derives from teenage angst, southern, garage, and hard rock blues. The sound that is produced is an off shoot of anthemic U2 vocals, mixed with lo-fi crunchy guitars, and driving drums. Dirty Rock and Roll in a nutshell. Their newest album - Only By the Night - opens up with a creepy and dark atmospheric rock track 'Closer' which then moves into a Radiohead-esque track 'Crawl' complete with lots of fuzzed out guitars.
The first released single of the album - "Sex on Fire" - is the first really catchy and solid gem on the album, and the Kings pushed it as such. This track definitely showcases the bands descent into over produced commericialized sound, and somewhat contrived - which they have been criticized for lately regarding this latest album.
Chris Jones of BBC Radio states that: "The one thing that really shows the band's confidence is their willingness to slow down and really attack these songs. Caleb claims that medication's effects influenced the writing and indeed, the droning insistence can be almost hallucinatory. Interestingly the first single, Sex On Fire - returning them to the fire and brimstone, gothic territory of their peripatetic father's preacher roots - is the one track that comes closest to the Strokes-aping sound that held them back in the past. But Caleb's muzzy, straining voice pushes them beyond arch post-modern irony from the big city. In interviews Caleb's talked about the boys tackling their ''roots'' again, and this album wears its colours proudly."
This is where things get interesting though - as Holden Caulfield in Cathcer in the Rye pointed out, "He's so good, he's almost corny, in fact. I don't exactly know what I mean by that, but I mean it. I certainly like to hear him play, but sometimes you feel like turning the goddam piano over. I think it's because sometimes when he plays, he sounds like the kind of guy that won't talk to you unless you're a big shot. If you do something too good, then, after a while, if you don’t watch it, you start showing off." With the Kings, it almost seems like with this album they fall prey to their own mythology and think of themselves as bigger than they actually are, and with negative results.
Taking into consideration that the band is ultimately huge in the UK, Australia and Europe, they play to fads and try and epitomize the juggernaut sound of U2 - and the comparisons between the two bands goes on and on and on. The song 'Use Somebody' sounds exactly like a U2 turnaround with thunderous cymbals, ohh's and ahh's and screeching guitars..... on 'Be Somebody' it sounds like yet another Edge guitar riff rip-off..... I don't need to go on. So are the Kings of Leon trying to be the Kings of Leon, or U2??? The album just seems to be a testament to the possible compositional erosion which the Kings of Leon might be facing... and it doesn't pose well that this is the first album which the band co-produced themselves.
"Speaking of unoriginal song writing, “Use Somebody” is another run-of-the-mill mainstream indie amalgam that subtly rips off a “Where the Streets Have No Name” lick for its supporting guitar line while Caleb squeaks about wanting to bone a random face in the crowd." - Filmore Holmes (Pop Matters)
Towards the middle of the album, the drive of the album falls short, and falls into a sonic lull between 'Manhattan' through 'I want you' - which makes it all-too-easy to just skip through to the driving 'Be Somebody' (track 10).
Filmore Holmes of Pop Matters further echoes my sentiments of the band: "They exist on and believe in their own hype, an intangible juggernaut stunningly and consistently supported by the UK and Australian media while soundly denounced by the North American bastion of indie taste Pitchfork, now for the fourth time in as many full-lengths with their lowest ever rating. Yet the many devoted street teams and pocketed critics always seem to drown out the few authorities willing to put the effort in to point out how average they truly are. Lucky for us, Only by the Night is the CD that will turn the tide on that cesspool."
The real issue with the album is it becomes a matter of presentation, not the song writing. Their previous releases have all been good; the raw, edgy sound which they drew from their previous release 'Because of the Times' was an honest album, full of real emotion of not a bunch of hokum. What is scary to see with this album is after listening to it a couple of times, there isn't much to take away from it - stuff which emotionally sticks with you, or moves you.... it just seems like more formulaic tricks to expand their fan base and just sell more CD's.
Even though it has taken almost four years to grow on me, I can accept Kings of Leon as the hype juggernaut they are now; but even when they opened up for U2 years ago, I think my first impressions about them was not unfounded.
