Music Monday: Fiery Sex With Kings

As I struggled to find something to write about this morning, I realized that I had not really talked about Kings of Leon yet. So I'll rectify that today!

About 2 years ago, I stumbled on Kings of Leon's album Only By The Night, which I am sure just about everyone is familiar with. The album spawned approximately 14,000 thousand hit singles, a few even on the pop radio scene. My personal favorite track was Sex on Fire and has now become a karaoke standard for me.

I wasn't too sure what to make of the boys at the time. The sound was certainly grunge-inspired rock. Every track resonated with some '90's sound but they were also pretty solidly modern as well. But the lead singer is what pulled me in most. He has this vulnerability to his voice, this raspy-ness that sounds like he might have just woke up after a night of smoking 2 packs of cigarettes and decided to record a track before even drinking some water. Hmmm… that may not have come across as enticing as I meant it… but in any case, I like his voice!

The band recently(ish) released a new album called Come Around Sundown which is… well, it's OK. The tracks are all crafted well, but there's something missing this time around. I originally chalked it up to the sophomore slumps many recording artists face until I realized this was actually their fifth album. 

With Only By The Night, there was a sense of magic in the album. Its as if the band knew they had a great record lined up and they put their everything into it. Sundown was more like them trying really hard to come up with great tracks, but without that sense of confidence and magic.

Don't get me wrong though: I like Come Around Sundown. I do. I just don't like it nearly as much as I like Night. And if I hadn't burnt myself out on Night, I'd probably listen to that album over Sundown whenever I'm have a Kings of Leon craving, but as it is Sundown is good enough and fulfills that craving when it comes.

I've been told that I should pick up the older albums by Kings of Leon and I likely will soon, but for some reason I've held off. I think it's probably related to how much I enjoyed Only By The Night and how not-as-stellar Come Around Sundown is, so I'm worried the earlier albums will have by more like Sundown. Maybe if I stay ignorant of the earlier stuff my image of the band will stay positive.