I have had a frustrating relationship with Kings Of Leon from the guitar strike-in on Red Morning Light on their debut album Youth And Young Manhood. Raw, powerful, energetic, and with plenty of that 'fuck you' attitude, the band and their Southern rock music was right up my alley. Then other albums followed.
With each of those albums, the band, their sound, their song-writing, even their hair and clothes changed. For me, it was increasingly hard to separate a band growing and evolving over time from what also appeared to be a band driven by ambition and ego...wanting to simply be the biggest band in the world. Aha Shake Heartbreak...nope. Because Of The Times...loved it!. By Only By The Night, the band's big break through album....the band had lost me. Since then, I have not been able approach any new music they have released without suspicion and an overly critical ear and attitude. So imagine my surprise when I heard their latest album, When You See Yourself, and felt otherwise.
As NME wrote, with record number eight, the Kings marry the old and the new, bottling everything they have learned on the road and on their last four albums while "still reconnecting with the best parts of what made the world love these boisterous, unruly rockers in the first place." It makes sense. The band is older and apparently wiser now and it is great to see the band "finally embracing the mature, laid-back versions of themselves."
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