By Odeisel
The family Followill returns to the stage with their 5th studio release Come Around Sundown, the follow-up from their US breakout album, 2008’s Only By The Night. The album marks a return to their bluesy roots while maintaining the modern rock edges they have cultivated throughout the years.
The album opens with “The End” with a strong bass guitar that runs hand in hand with a solidary drum/high hat combo that opens up to ambient strings and rock guitars on the breaks. The vocals carry a tortured melancholy that runs concurrent with the moody strings until the final stanza which brings the song to crescendo. “Radioactive” follows at a far more frenetic pace, led by rhythm guitar and paced by cowbells, a hard, yet subdued drum and tapping sticks. The lead vocals are emotional but hard to discern on the chorus.
The pace comes back to earth with the booming drums of “Pyro” which speaks to the lengths of the determined to burn whatever is in their path. The dithering guitars on the edges resemble the Tears For Fears classic “Everybody Wants to Rule The World.” The slow classic rock feel of “Mary” is awash in rhythm as the Kings manage a power ballad that is devoid of simpish saccharine. The high-powered breaks bang and the assortment of guitar melodies add immense weight to this composition. “The Face” is another beautifully crafted guitar ballad, with drums providing the hammer and muscle.
The rhythm gets slick on “The Immortals” where a running guitar riff gets pounded about by staccato drum patterns. The search for self-actualization and the determination to push for your dreams forms the main idea of this track. “Back Down South” typifies the return to their Tennessee roots with its tambourine and acoustic guitar base and tales of fires burning, people dancing, beers downed and a way of life missed. The rousing feeling of foot stomping fun that closes the song captures the feeling perfectly.
An 80’s pop-influenced guitar rhythm, a slinky bass and fast drum power “Beach Side.” The change of pace song is short and functions as a place setter for the high powered guitars of “No Money.” He’s got so many things he can’t handle and so many things he wants, but… he’s got no money. When he gets his money he’s off and running with “fuck you” thoughts of what he still can’t have. The meaty, deep guitars and 80’s styled vocals of “Pony Up” elicit the best memories of hair band Rock.
“Birthday” has that pretty girl wrapping him around her fingers all over again. Mentions of her bloody nose may indicate some hoe savin’ but that’s par for the course. The California feel of “Mi Amigo” shows the range of The Kings of Leon, with its punctuating guitar stabs accented by high hats and deliberate, banging drums and Mexican horns. The ride ends appropriately with “Pickup Truck” which not only nods their Southern DNA, and signals the close. The emotional, voice-cracking vocals overpower the track at times and the slow burn of the track brings the album to a close with a knockdown drag out fight, from which they bring home a bloody tooth, to let you know they’re thinking of you.
The Kings of Leon combine Southern sensibility with high-powered, if occasionally unintelligible lyrics and elements from many eras of modern Rock, to create an album that never once bores. The guitar arrangements are flat out brilliant, especially if your ears haven’t been ruined by mp3. If the delivery was a bit more precise and the vocals a bit sharper and easier to discern this would have been a really special album, but mood music may have actually carried Come Around Sundown places precision could not.
Radioactive
3.75 out of 5
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