Album review: Kings of Leon - Only by the Night

Kings of Leon has a lot of big names in music as fans, among them Radiohead, Bob Dylan and Eddie Vedder. That should indicate that it is a band worth listening to, but I wasn’t impressed when I saw them support Pearl Jam in the Netherlands in 2007. That was until I heard Sex on Fire on the radio this summer. Damn that song is brilliant! Hoping to find more quality songs, I got my hands on their new album Only by the Night. And I wasn’t disappointed!

The album opens with the haunting sounds of Closer. A mysterious tune that makes you shiver. The lyrics tell a tale about the life of a vampire, which is right up my ally. The track indicates that this album has quite a few experimental tricks. Crawl is rock track with a sexy tempo, combined with Caleb’s husky voice it is a killer song. Of course the horniest song of them all is Sex on Fire. It’s fast and makes you think about sweating bodies and sex in public places.

The album contains a few quieter songs, again with an experimental undertone. Though some songs sound nice and laidback, like the title of the album suggests, most of the lyrics on the album have a dark theme. Seventeen year old girls fucked up on drugs and alcohol in 17, fears and phobias, angst and loneliness in Cold Desert.

Though Only by the Night received mixed comments, it entered the UK charts at number one on September 28th, selling over 220.000 copies in the first week of it’s release. It has also been number one in Australia, New Zealand and Ireland, number four in Canada and number five in the US and Germany.

Verdict: Only by the Night has a couple of outstanding tracks, like Closer, Crawl and Sex on Fire. The rest of the album is definitely good enough to make a lasting impression.
Imre