Album Review: The Kings of Leon - Only by the Night

The fourth go-around for the Kings of Leon, Only by the Night, has received an overwhelming wave of harsh criticism for the overly polished sound that kicks in right off the bat. The rough sounds that characterized the early Tennessee family's work are long gone, traded for more "radio-friendly" tracks. But regardless of how much you (or I) dislike the album as a whole, you'll still be tapping your foot to its songs long after they're gone.

You gotta give it to them, Leon's sons (and one nephew) do know how to create effective songs. This is rock songwriting 101. The album starts out very strong with tracks like Sex on Fire and Use Somebody. These are some of the catchiest of the Kings' repertoire to date. The ballads are definitely aimed at a wider audience than the classic Kings of Leon (i.e. the radio crowd). Bad news for us who can't even remember the last time we switched on a radio.

Unfortunately the record quickly degrades in real quality on the latter half of the tracklist. Most of the songs just sound rushed. It's as if they took the left-overs from Because of the Times, spruced them up a bit in post-recording and slapped an album cover on them. The veneer is still there, but there's no substance underneath.

Final Thoughts: The Kings of Leon have achieved a sex-god sound with Only by the Night and have created some of their catchiest songs yet, but I almost gag on the sugar of it all. I miss Youth and Young Manhood...

My Impression: