Kings of Leon: Come Around Sundown

 

I have to say I've been pretty excited about hearing ‘Kings of Leon’s’ new album ‘Come Around Sundown’. I wouldn’t class myself as a massive Kings of Leon fan, but after all the success of their last couple of singles I was eager to see what they came up with next.

Kings of Leon have been around for about eleven years, which is surprising because they only seem to have majorly broken into the mainstream with their last album ‘Only by the Night’, which earned them number ones and numerous awards. ‘Kings of Leon’ seem to have a knack of changing their sound with almost ever album, despite lead singer Anthony Followill’s highly distinctive voice.

As for the album itself, they’ve done a pretty great job. It gets off to a solid start with a strong drum beat and then a great guitar riff, before the stunning voice of lead singer Anthony Followill comes in. Although this song isn’t the highlight of the album, it’s still a good way to start. ‘Radioactive’ is by far the best song, and reached number seven in the singles chart. The reason it’s so good is due to its amazing guitar riff which comes in at the beginning of the song, and Followill’s brilliant, almost pained voice.

One of the less impressive songs on the album is Mary, it’s highly repetitive and has very little vocals, which seems strange considering the quality of vocalist they have. After a while it does get frankly quite annoying, and I have to say it’s one I would skip past.

However, one song stood out was ‘Back down South’, it has a country feel to it and you can really sense that the band is coming back to their Tennessee routes. The reason it sounds country is due to the acoustic guitar and the rhythm Followill sings at. The next song on the album ‘Beach Side’ is a stark contrast to ‘Back Down South’ with its summery holiday feel. This could be seen as a symbol of their move from humble Tennessee to stardom, typically associated with sunny California.

It’s nice to see that Kings of Leon have not played it safe and made songs that sound similar to their previous successes, and on the whole it’s a great album. It’s chilled and easy to listen to, I recommend it if you’re a Kings of Leon fan.