Kings of Leon
WALLS
RCA
Oct 13, 2016
Kings of Leon
It’s hard to say what it is that keeps you hoping that Kings of Leon will somehow return to their golden days of identity obscuring long hair, naughty southern swag, and shirt soaked, fireball spitting country rock that made drunk dancing an aerobic exercise. Though they’ve long ago morphed into an anthem blasting arena act—less fireball and more firework—you keep wishing they would rip out some good ol’ get down at some point on each album.
WALLS is one in a succession of moves away from that original raw sound. The good news is that with Kings, you’re always assured a heart-racer or two with the three Followill brothers plus their cousin reliably belting thunder with hefty drum, chugging bass, sparkling guitar high-notes, and one godly voice. In this way, “Waste a Moment” takes off. The bad news is that the pretty studio polish on some of the filler is the aural parallel of the chintzy gloss veneer of a sunset painting at a Howard Johnson.
The Tennessee boys that used to hang on your back, shouting in your ear with whiskey on their breath have grown up, and now preach wound-down wisdom with an arm around your shoulder. But the charm wears thin over the course of a full record. (www.kingsofleon.com)
Author rating: 4.5/10
Average reader rating: 6/10
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October 14th 2016
12:24pm
you said it best, I keep hoping with them, to come back the great band they were once, but now they are just flat. Old KOL would be horryfied at this album.