Album Review

Kings Of Leon – Come Around Sundown

• 15th Oct 2010

After the award winning ‘Only By The Night’ made this small town American band a worldwide phenomenon all hopes where on the follow up album. However any anticipation is short lived as Kings of Leon’s fifth studio album ‘Come Around Sundown’ is nothing but ordinary for a band that started out with a gritty sound different from any other.

Opening song ‘The End’ is slow and dramatic with Caleb Followill‘s instantly recognisable voice transporting you back to the time where you first heard this band and thought who are they? However unlike the wailing we heard on previous efforts such as ‘Sex On Fire’ his voice is raw and stripped down, revealing a vulnerability that makes ‘The End’ a rather odd choice for a first song.
Surely the first track should create maximum impact not fill you with doubt over the direction this album has taken?

Latest single ‘Radioactive’ follows and begins to put your mind at ease that Kings Of Leon are striving to surpass ‘Only By The Night’. In every way it does appear to be stronger; the guitars have stepped up a gear and are at the forefront creating a new dimension and the use of a backing choir has resulted in a sound that is once again set to gain them mainstream success but one tolerable song out of a possible thirteen is not enough to salvage this album.

From this point it all starts to go dramatically downhill. The remaining songs are polished to a point where they are nothing but bland, although they have returned to their Southern roots it is as though ‘Come Around Sundown’ is Kings Of Leon giving up. Not even the rockier more upbeat ‘No Money’ can rescue this album from being slated by the critics.

They have simply lost their unique edge and instead replaced it with a common indie sound that is soft, unimaginative and above all disappointing.