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JennYKings of Leon - Only By The Night Album Review
October 9th 2008 20:50
Genre: Alternative rock, Southern rock, Garage rock
Length: 42:55
Label: RCA
Only By The Night is the Kings of Leon's fourth studio album. Mixing blues rock with garage rock, the album stays thoroughly consistent. No song stands out but they're all equally good.
Basically, there are two kinds of songs on this album – the somewhat upbeat ones such as the first single, Sex On Fire, and the slow ones such as the opening track, Closer. The latter has a keyboard melody that vaguely reminds me of R&B singer Ciara's “1, 2 Step.”
The second track, Crawl, sounds a bit like Oasis. In fact, Caleb's voice sounds sort of like Liam's, they both have that raspy tone that shouldn't be considered good singing, yet meshes in perfectly with the instrumentals.
The first single, Sex On Fire, reminds me of another British band, Snow Patrol. Several songs on Only By The Night are reminiscent of the Irish/Scottish band's earlier catalog. Manhattan is one of those tracks. It has a nice vibe that makes it sound like it belongs on an EP album, not a full-fledged studio album.
Sex On Fire Video
Use Somebody is a beautiful love song that reminded me of Aerosmith's huge hit, “I Don't Want To Miss A Thing.”
Revelry is a slow song with a nice bass and guitar. The sound is really soothing and makes for great background music.
17 is more upbeat than the previous two songs. When Caleb doesn't sing you only hear the guitar, bass, and the cymbals, but every time he utters a line, the full instrumental comes on.
Notion sounded very familiar to me, but as much as I tried to figure out why, I couldn't put my finger on where I heard something like that before. There's a nice piano melody on it, but it gets drowned out by the other instruments at various points in the song.
The three final tracks are I Want You, Be Somebody, and Cold Desert. I Want You and Cold Desert definitely have a Southern sound to them while Be Somebody is a somewhat upbeat song. The drums get the spotlight on that one.
All in all, I give this album a 3.5/5. It could get a 4/5 but as an outside listener, there isn't really a song that would want to make you purchase this album. What I'm trying to say is, if I didn't have to review this album, I wouldn't have thought twice about not buying it. Furthermore, the lyrics aren't easy to get at first. It's a great record if you need background music for a family get-together or if you're stuck in traffic, but there isn't a really memorable track that will stay in your head for days and days. If you're a fan of Snow Patrol, Oasis, or upcoming bands such as Magic Numbers and The Pigeon Detectives, then definitely give this album a chance. If not, listen to it before buying.
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